Angels and Devils
by Duncan Johnson
Summary: What price would you pay to turn back death? The fourth in a series of adventures for the eighth Doctor and Mina Harker.
1. Episode One

_Disclaimer: Doctor Who, the TARDIS and related characters are the property of the BBC and are used without permission. This is a non-profit making work of fan-fiction. Mina Harker was created by Bram Stoker._

**Angels and Devils**

An adventure of the Eighth Doctor and Mina Harker

By Duncan Johnson

Episode One

It is still light outside when Tori closes the floral-patterned curtains in her bedroom. She has left the window open and a breeze tugs at the thin material. One edge of the fabric becomes caught on the spines of the cactus on the windowsill. Tori makes no effort to extricate it. She can hear ambulance sirens echoing from ground level.

She closes the door. It has no lock so she drags the bed across the room to block the entrance. In her imagination this had been a much easier task, but she grits her teeth and inches the furniture around a little at a time until she is satisfied with the result. She plops herself down on the duvet while she recovers her breath.

There is a mirror on the wall opposite and Tori studies the girl staring back at her. Victoria Gallagher, known as Tori. It had been Scott's fault, of course. At two years old, he had been unable to work his mouth round all four syllables of the name their parents had chosen for her, only managing to bark out Toria', followed by a giggle. The name stuck and no one has called her Victoria since the age of six months, with the exception of some of her more malicious teachers.

Nobody calls her Toria either, if she can help it. She hates the name. It makes her think of a little girl in plaits and a pink party frock with chunky braces fitted over her buckteeth being paraded by her mum in front of the other residents of the block. She has grown up since then and Toria is long gone. Today she is Tori, but tomorrow even that will be gone.

The eyes looking back at her from the mirror are bloodshot, puffy and red from crying. Her pale skin absorbs the light reflected from the walls making her look jaundiced. Her long blonde hair is pulled savagely away from her face and held in place by an elastic band. The creature in the mirror is a pitiful sight.

Tori turns her attention to her bedside table. Shifting her copy of Sylvia Plath, the one with the ring left by her coffee mug on the cover, she uncaps the brown medicine bottle and pours out its contents. Patiently, she orders the white pills into the rank and file of a miniature army. She can't remember when her mum started using the sleeping pills. Was it after Timmy was born or did she wait until Dad walked out on them? Tori doubts that the pills do her any good though. Mum still cries herself to sleep most nights.

Tori pops the first pill into her mouth, washing it down with a sip of tepid water.

* * *

Janine, will you shut the brat up!'

Tori sat at the kitchen table and tried to block out the noise. Her homework was strewn out in front of her, but her workings had degenerated into doodles as it became increasingly difficult to concentrate. Timmy had woken up hungry again and had no qualms about letting the rest of the building know about it. Mum had raced out of the kitchen to quiet him and now tea was threatening to boil over. With a sigh that was perhaps a bit more melodramatic than it needed to be, Tori got to her feet and turned down the flame on the stove. Dad would not lift a finger to help, engrossed as he was in whatever quiz show was blaring at him from the TV. His only contribution these days was to shout orders at the rest of them. And Mum always rushed to obey.

Tori had promised herself that she was not going to turn out like her. She was going to get out of here and make something of her life. She was not going to let herself be used. 

She climbed back on to her chair and returned her attention to the textbook. She was smart. Once she passed her CSEs she would go to college. Then she could go places, rather than scrounging off the dole. Assuming she could ever finish this exercise.

Homework was not exactly encouraged in the Gallagher household, presumably because Scott, two years her senior, had never felt the need to do any. Now he spent his days like Dad, though instead of lounging in front of the television, he lounged on street corners with his mates, getting drunk and wolf whistling at anything in a skirt. Unemployed and unemployable.

Tori could hear her mum cooing softly to the baby, but Timmy was paying no attention, intent on demonstrating just how powerful his little lungs were. In response, Dad turned up the volume on the television and the flat echoed with the applause of a studio audience. Miss Beckett, who lived in the flat above, began hammering on the ceiling with her walking stick. 

Tori clamped her hands over her ears and shook her head, her long hair flying about her. 

Shut up,' she moaned. Shut up, shut up. SHUT UP!'

Quiet,' her dad bellowed at her. I'm trying to watch this.'

And I'm trying to work,' Tori snapped back.

Ha!' Dad laughed at her. Reading books when you could be doing something useful.'

Like you, you mean?' Tori had spoken without thinking. She wished that she could take the words back, but she was too upset to apologise. Besides, why should she apologise for speaking the truth?

Her dad got to his feet, struggling to lift himself up off of the sofa.

Who do you think does all the real work around here?' he growled. Who do you think pays to keep you here while you swan around with your bloody books and your bloody poetry? Me, that's who!'

Tori was angry now. She knew she should keep her mouth shut, keep her thoughts to herself, but all she wanted to do was lash out.

Yeah, it takes a real man to collect the dole money once a week!'

Her dad raised his hand to strike her.

Dave, don't!'

Janine was standing in the doorway, the baby cradled in her arms.

Dave, she didn't mean it.'

Stay out of this, woman!' Dave did not even turn his head to look at her.

You think you're so much better than us, don't you?' he said to Tori. You think all of this means you're smarter than us, but you're not. You're just the same as the rest of us.'

I'm nothing like you,' Tori retorted. I'm going to make something of my life, not hide in front of a TV all day.'

Her head snapped back in reaction to the blow and she toppled backwards off her chair, catching her temple on the edge of the sink. She put a hand to her head and found blood.

Go to your room,' her dad ordered.

Gingerly, Tori got to her feet and began to gather up her books.

Leave it,' her dad snapped.

Tori ignored him.

I said leave it!' Dave snatched up her homework and tore it in two. Now get out of my sight!'

Tori fled from the kitchen, lower lip trembling. It was not until she had shut herself in her bedroom that she allowed herself to cry.

* * *

A pigeon lands outside her window and begins to coo softly. Tori considers getting up and shooing it away, but she cannot summon the energy. She feels as if she is falling, but slowly, like a feather caught in the breeze. She snuggles deeper into the comforting softness of the duvet. 

Reluctantly, she turns her head to one side and opens an eye. Her army stands firm, but its ranks have been decimated by the enemy. The table seems much farther away than she remembers, but somehow Tori manages to snake out and arm and snag another pill. Popping it into her mouth, she rolls over and returns to her daydream.

She can hear the pigeon flapping its wings, as if to check that they are still attached. Then it takes flight.

* * *

The bird landed on the branches of the cherry tree that hung over the entrance to St Stephen's church. Tori had been watching its flight as it had swooped and soared, torn between climbing out of site and coming to rest. The activity had helped her to block out Mrs Beckett's none-too-quiet whispering'.

It's not right,' she was saying to the women who crowded round her like bumblebees about a flower. _Or flies round rotting meat_, Tori thought, then chided herself for the comment. It was not that Mrs Beckett did not deserve it, but Tori refused to start sniping at people behind their backs. It was not right.

It's not right,' Mrs Beckett repeated, what with three kids and all. How can they be expected to grow up into responsible adults without a father? Children need discipline and _she's_ certainly not going to give it to them. You mark my words.'

The object of Mrs Beckett's tirade was oblivious. Janine Gallagher was kneeling at the riverbank, one arm around Timmy as she showed him the ducks. That had been his first word. Not Mum' or Dad' or even Tori', but duck'. Tori had been in her room. She was lying on the bed on her stomach, with a book open in front of her, but she was not reading. Instead, she was dreaming about all of the places that she would visit when she graduated. Her mother's voice cut through the dream.

Tori, Tori, come quick!'

With a sigh of protest, Tori rolled of the bed and stuck her head around the bedroom door. Her mum looked back at her from the bathroom, eyes shining like they had not in months.

Quickly,' she called. It's Timmy.'

Tori briefly considered turning round and returning to her reading', but she liked her baby brother, though heaven alone knew why.

Timmy was sitting in the bath. It was only filled with enough water to reach just above his waist and its emptiness only emphasised how small Timmy was. Mum knelt by the side of the bath, a yellow plastic bath toy in her hand.

Watch this,' she said to Tori, then she turned to Timmy. Timmy, tell Mummy what this is.'

Timmy raised a chubby hand to point at the toy. 

Duck!' he said firmly.

Mum turned to Tori and she could see tears in her eyes. Tori could not help grinning back.

He's talking,' Mum sobbed. Well, maybe that was a bit strong, but Tori could feel her grin stretching wider. The two women reached for each other and embraced tightly.

Duck, duck, duck, duck, duck,' Timmy crowed.

Tori released her mum and scooped the baby out of the bathtub. Then she engulfed him in a hug, not caring that her clothes were getting soaked.

It had been a magical moment. At least until Dad had come home.

Tori felt a hand on her shoulder and tore herself back to the present. She whirled to find the vicar standing behind her. He had swapped his robes for a faded duffel coat and a Newcastle United scarf.

It's gone, you know,' he said. When Tori looked baffled he pointed to the cherry tree. The bird must have flown away while she was daydreaming.

Penny for them?' the vicar persisted. He was Tori's height and had a bald patch that made him look a bit like a monk.

Tori's gaze wandered back to Mrs Beckett and her congregation.

I mean, what sort of person is she, do you think?' Mrs Beckett was saying. She didn't have the perfect life, I'd be the first to admit, but she had a family, a loving husband. What sort of person just throws that away?'

Tori's hand went to her temple. There was no scar, not any more, but sometimes it felt as if there was.

Don't listen to them,' the vicar said. Mrs Beckett, good person though she is, does have an unfortunate habit of mouthing off about things she knows nothing about.'

I know that,' Tori mumbled.

Still hurts, though, doesn't it?'

* * *

Tori opens her eyes a fraction. The sun is setting and colour is seeping from her room. Somewhere outside a car stereo is blaring. The beat pounds away like a throbbing heart. Tori lets the pulse flow through her. She lifts her hands to check her own heart beat and is surprised to see red crescents in her palms where she has been digging in her nails. Bad memories, she suspects.

She turns her head to survey her soldiers. Her little army is in disarray. Decimated by casualties, the ordered rank and file is no more, leaving only scattered clumps, cowering from the enemy. Her glass of water is half-empty when she takes a sip to wash down another tablet.

* * *

Tori, could I have a word please.'

Miss Townsend took a sip of water before setting down her glass on the corner of the desk. Nervously, Tori detached herself from the crowd of teenagers forcing their way out of the door. She liked Miss Townsend, but her previous experiences of being asked to stay after class had always meant trouble.

Don't worry, you're not in trouble or anything,' Miss Townsend said, as if reading Tori's thoughts. She was perched on the edge of her desk, her reading glasses held casually in her left hand. I just thought you might want some help.'

Help?' Tori shuffled uncomfortably. I'm getting good marks, aren't I?' 

Miss Townsend looked as if she wanted to laugh, but settled instead for a slight smile.

I'm sorry, Tori, I didn't mean to scare you,' she said. Yes, you are getting good marks. Better than good. I was just wondering if you'd considered English Literature as a college course?'

College course?' Tori repeated. Her brain seemed to be having difficulty getting going.

Now it was Miss Townsend's turn to look uncomfortable.

You do enjoy English Lit., don't you?' she asked. You've never said, but you always seem interested in class.'

Yes, yes, I do,' Tori admitted. It was her favourite course. It's justcollege? Do you really think I've got a chance?'

You'll have to work for it, but I think you're in with a shot,' Miss Townsend confirmed. I was thinking we might get together for some extra tuition after school.'

Tori looked at her feet. I can't. I have to help out my mum at home.'

Don't worry about it,' Miss Townsend said. Fortunately, she was aware of Tori's circumstances so she could spare her further embarrassment. We'll just have to adapt.'

The teacher slipped her glasses back on and fished a piece of paper from her pocket. 

I've put together a reading list that I think might be helpful. And, best of all, the school library actually has copies of them.'

Tori smiled. The school library was not up to much, but it was still better than the trek across town to the public building.

If you've got any questions you know where to find me,' Miss Townsend continued.

Thank you,' Tori said, holding the list as if she expected it to vanish into the ether at any moment. Thank you very much.'

Don't thank me yet. If we're going to get you into college it's going to mean a lot of hard work on your part. Don't let me down.'

I won't. I promise.'

An awkward silence descended on the room.

Well?' Miss Townsend prompted at last. What are you waiting for? Go get those books before someone else does.'

Tori hurried out of the classroom.

The library, little more than an oversized book closet, was located on the ground floor, two flights down from Miss Townsend's classroom. Tori decided to go straight there and go to lunch later. She had brought sandwiches, rather than risk whatever the canteen was serving today so she would not have to queue. She reached the library just in time to see Mr Lucas emerge.

Mr Lucas was her Maths teacher and probably her least favourite member of staff. She knew that Maths was her weakest subject (an award for which there was stiff competition), but Mr Lucas seemed to take sadistic delight in highlighting this fact to the rest of the class. It had started last year, on a Tuesday afternoon when she had been playing hockey. Tori enjoyed hockey and she was not a bad striker, which earned her a measure of popularity she did not usually get in class. Mr Lucas had been refereeing and after the game, he asked her if she was interested in joining the school team. Initially, Tori had agreed, but then she discovered that the team trained after school. Since Dad had left, Tori had always gone straight home after class in order to look after Timmy and give her mum a bit of a break. So she had apologised to Mr Lucas and explained that she would not be able to play for the team after all. Unfortunately, Lucas did not like people turning him down and he was the kind of man to hold a grudge.

Tori considered racing back up the stairs, but Lucas had already spotted her. He stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the doorjamb, blocking her entrance to the library.

Miss Gallagher, I'm surprised to see you here,' he said. It's rare enough for any student to visit the library, but especially you'

Miss Townsend sent me, sir,' Tori explained. She's given me a list of books to read.'

Extracurricular activities?' Mr Lucas commented. Don't you think it would be better to concentrate on the work expected of you before moving on to anything extra? You won't get into college on the strength of one subject alone, you know, which means, unless there's a miraculous transformation in your conduct here, I don't see you getting into college at all.'

With that parting shot, Lucas strode past Tori and up the stairs.

* * *

Tori hears the sound of keys in the door.

Tori, we're home,' calls her mum. She has been at the doctor's. Timmy has a bit of a cough. It is probably nothing, but Mum did not want to take any chances.

The door slams. 

Tori, are you here?'

Tori says nothing.

She reaches for her glass. Fumbling it, she knocks it against the edge of the table. Rescuing it, she freezes, her breathing sounding impossibly loud, her heart hammering in her chest. She waits, listening for her mum's knock at her door. But her mum has not heard her. She is safe.

She reaches for a tablet, her hand scrabbling across the table's surface until she finds one up against the base of her lamp.

She swallows the pill and tries to think calm thoughts. Her heart continues to race.

* * *

Tori paced up and down in front of Miss Townsend's desk, her heart racing, her thoughts a jumble.

Tori, please, you're wearing a hole in the carpet.'

Tori spun on her heel and stopped.

Sorry,' she muttered. It's just, I can't think straight. What am I going to do?'

Miss Townsend put a comforting arm around the girl.

Calm down, Tori,' she soothed. It's not the end of the world.'

Isn't it?' Tori demanded, shaking off the teacher's arm. I've been rejected by everywhere I applied. Nobody wants me and if I can't get out of here I'll'

Tears cut off the end of her sentence.

Shh, it's all right,' Miss Townsend whispers. Everything's going to be okay. So the colleges rejected you. They don't even know you. All they've got to go on is the school's prediction of what you'll be like. And, let's be honest, you haven't exactly impressed up until now. But we've still got a shot. Once you get your results we can show them off, not some out-of-date school report. Then they'll have to accept you.'

You think?' 

Tori sniffed and Miss Townsend offered her a tissue.

I know.'

Tori felt a lot happier when she emerged from school ten minutes later. She still had a lot of work to do if she was going to bring her grades up in time, but at least she felt the goal was achievable. She was going to college.

It was a long walk home, but Tori did not like to waste money on the bus. Besides, the walk gave her plenty of time to think things over. A swan hissed at her. It was blocking the towpath in front of her. Tori had been menaced by a swan as a little girl, so she decided that, rather than try to force her way past, she would sit on the canal bank until the swan got bored and went away.

It might be worth asking some of the other teachers for extra help with her subjects. Okay, so they were not all Miss Townsends, but nor were they as bad as Mr Lucas. Perhaps she should focus on improving a few subjects rather than spread herself too thinly by trying to up all her marks.

There was a splash as the swan tumbled gracelessly into the water and Tori got to her feet and resumed her march. There was an uneven flight of stone steps at the side of a red brick bridge that led back onto the main road. She could see the cream-coloured twin tower blocks that housed her flat in the distance while she waited for the traffic lights to change. She could save time by cutting through the kid's play area.

Scott was sitting on the wall at the edge of the field, his back to the swings. He was smoking and drinking with his friends, a bunch of guys with barely a brain cell to share between them. Tori did not have a lot of time for them, but she did not see how she could walk past without at least acknowledging her brother's presence.

It's Victoria, isn't it?'

She turned to see one of the guys walking towards her. He wore a leather jacket over a white T-shirt. 

Tori,' she corrected automatically.

Tori, right,' the guy agreed. Scott's sister. I'm Aaron.'

Um, Hi,' Tori stammered. Up close, Aaron was pretty good-looking, in a ruggedly handsome kind of way.

Hi,' Aaron responded. He smiled at Tori and she felt her knees turn to water.

Do you need a hand with that?' Aaron asked, indicating her bag.

No, I'm fine. Really,' Tori said, nervously adjusting the strap on her shoulder.

Well, if you're sure,' Aaron conceded. Looks pretty heavy to me though. Guess you've got all your books in there.'

My books?' Tori prompted.

Scott's told us you're a bit of a bookworm,' Aaron admitted.

Tori looked down at her shoes. _Bookworm, great. Nice to know what he thinks of me._

Of course, he didn't tell us you were a looker, too,' Aaron continued.

Tori felt her face grow hot and was glad she was not looking at him.

Thanks,' she muttered feebly.

Listen, the guys and I are going into town tonight and I was wondering,' Aaron said, well, I thought you might like to come too.'

Tori's heart leapt straight for her throat. Was he really asking her out? Really?

I, uh, I can't,' she confessed. She waved in the direction of her flat. I've got to, well, you know.'

_Stupid, stupid, Tori!_ She mentally kicked herself. Very hard.

Sure, I understand,' Aaron said. Some other time then.'

I'd like that,' Tori replied.

See you around then, Tori.' Aaron turned and walked back to his friends.

Tori waved at his back. The guys were laughing at some kind of joke. Tori guessed it was about Scott since he looked distinctly uncomfortable.

With a ridiculous grin splitting her face, Tori turned and continued on her way home.

* * *

Mum has fed Timmy and is now watching her soaps on the TV. Tori does not watch much television. When Dad was around, she got used to spending time hiding in her room with a book. Sometimes she wonders if she should have shown some kind of interest, if only in the interests of mother-daughter bonding, but nothing on television can hold her attention these days.

There is a small pile of dog-eared library books at the foot of her bed. She wonders whether anyone will bother returning them for her or if they will be left to accumulate an ever increasing fine. She tries to recall the books' titles, but can only remember three of the four. She cannot summon the energy, however, to sit up and take a look.

Her hand scuttles crab-like across the bedside table searching for another tablet, but to no avail. Her soldiers have all been defeated.

Closing her eyes, Tori settles back and prepares to sleep.

* * *

Tori opened her eyes again, but the words on the paper were still the same. She had failed. Despite all her efforts, her grades had not improved anything like enough. Even her English Lit. mark was not as high as she had hoped.

Now what was she supposed to do? All her dreams, all her careful planning, all for nothing. She had wanted to get out, to escape her life before she became trapped like her mum. Now what did she have to look forward to?

She looked around for Miss Townsend. She had promised to be here when Tori got her results. She would know what to do. But she was not here. 

Tori felt so small, swamped by a hostile and uncaring world. She wanted someone to hold her hand and tell her everything was okay, but everyone had abandoned her.

Tori?'

She looked up to see Mr Lucas towering over her.

Good news, I hope?' he said.

It was all too much. Tori turned and ran from the school, eyes stinging with unshed tears.

She had managed to compose herself slightly by the time she reached the bridge. She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. Her vision was still blurred, but she could make out the number 37 on the plaque over the bridge.

She collapsed in a heap on the bottom step. She did not have the energy to carry on. She could see the corner of a shopping trolley poking out from beneath the canal's dark waters. She wondered who had abandoned it there, how long had it been left to rot? If she never stirred would anyone come looking for _her_? But she could not stay there, not forever, so she eventually forced herself back to her feet and continued towards home.

The play area was deserted, except for a little, ginger-haired boy on the swing. He smiled at Tori and she found herself quickening her pace, almost running across the grass until she reached the alleyway between the two blocks of flats. The alley was in shadow, the graffiti on the walls drained of its vibrancy. 

Somebody struck a match.

Tori's eyes immediately focussed on the patch of light. Aaron lit his cigarette and tossed the spent match to the ground. Scott and the others lurked in the darkness behind him. They were between her and home.

''Scuse me,' Tori muttered, trying to force her way past.

Aaron's free hand clamped down on her shoulder.

'Hey, babe, what's the rush?' he asked. Tori recoiled from the cigarette smoke on his breath. 'The guys and I were wondering if you might be up for a little fun.'

'Um, not now, um, Aaron, I'm not in the mood,' Tori replied, trying unsuccessfully to shake him free. 'Maybe later, okay.'

'Why put off till later what we can do right now?' Aaron's cigarette was dangerously close to Tori's left eye. His other hand moved from her shoulder to caress her cheek. 'And I am in the mood.'

He crushed his lips on to hers. His stubble scraped across her face like sandpaper. Tori could feel his tongue invading her mouth. She pushed him away with as much force as she could.

'Get off of me,' she screamed. 'What do you think you're doing?'

'Having a little fun, babe,' Aaron responded, swaggering back towards her. 'Weren't you having fun? What's the matter? Aren't we good enough for you.'

Aaron hurled his cigarette to the ground and stamped on it.

'I just want to go home,' Tori said, trying to keep her voice reasonable. 'Scott, tell him.'

Scott turned his face away.

'Scotty'll get his turn soon enough,' Aaron commented. Up close, Tori could see that his eyes were wide and bloodshot, his pupils the merest of pinpricks. 'But I want a piece of you first.'

Aaron shoved her up against the wall. She could feel the cold stone through the thin material of her school blouse. 

'Help!' she shouted. 'Scott! Anybody! Help!'

There was a knife in Aaron's right hand. In the shaded alley it looked dull and unthreatening, but Tori could testify to it's sharpness when Aaron pressed it to the skin of her throat.'

'I think we'll both have more fun if you just SHUT UP!!' Aaron snapped. He was breathing heavily and took a moment to calm himself down. 'Now, where were we?'

Tori closed her eyes, as if not being able to see it meant that it was not happening. She could feel his lips on hers, his wet tongue forcing itself between her lips like an eel. She could feel his hand beneath her blouse, feel his coarse fingertips upon her breast.

'I think the young lady would like you to stop.'

The voice was soft, but it soared over any other noise in the vicinity.

'I suggest you let her go.'

'Why, what are you gonna to do about it?' Aaron asked defiantly, but he did take a step away from her. Tori pressed herself against the wall, hoping that it would open up and swallow her.

Two figures stood framed by the light at the far end of the alley, a man and a woman, looking like something from a nineteenth century novel. The man strode confidently forward, his dark coat trailing behind him.

'Why don't you give me the knife,' he was saying, 'then no one need get hurt.'

'Oh, I'll give it to you all right,' Aaron promised, before darting forward and thrusting the blade beneath the man's ribcage and up into his heart.

Mouth open in surprise, he collapsed to the ground, blood darkening his shirt.

The woman ran forward, hindered by her long skirt. Ignoring Aaron, still holding the bloody knife, she fell to her knees, cradling the man's head in her lap.

'Doctor,' she moaned. 'Doctor, say something please.'

'Aaron,' Scott said, 'you've killed him.'

The other boys started to pick up the cry.

'We've got to get out of here,' one of them said and they turned and fled.

'Somebody help him,' the woman cried.

Aaron stood as a statue, staring at the corpse on the ground.

Scott paused at the end of the alley, 'Aaron, come on.'

Suddenly spurred to life, Aaron dropped the knife, turned and legged it.

Tori eased away from the wall.

The woman turned to her, dark eyes boring into hers.

'Please, go and fetch some help. Hurry!'

Tori turned and fled up the stairs to her flat.

* * *

And now Tori lies above the duvet of her bed, eyes closed, breathing so slow as to be barely noticeable. Her last thought, that maybe now the pain will all go away.


	2. Episode Two

Episode Two

Janine Gallagher sat on the floor in Tori's room, her chin resting on her knees. She had intended to sit to the bed, but she had missed and then found it to be too much effort to get up again. The ambulances and the police cars were long gone, but Janine could still hear the ringing in her ears.

The reflection in the mirror was not her own. It was blurred and fractured as if she were seeing it through smoke. She felt as if she were far away, viewing events rather than living them. It was not real and maybe, if she sat here long enough, everything would be all right again.

* * *

Mina sat very still, her hands cradled in her lap. The chair was cold and hard, but Mina was sitting so rigidly she did not notice. The hospital waiting room was crowded with people all clamouring to be heard, but Mina stared straight ahead, her thoughts focussed inwards.

Her dress was still stained with blood. The Doctor's blood. She had watched it leak out of him, watched the sparkle in his eyes fade. And there was nothing she could do except cradle him until help arrived. Now, she could not even do that.

A man in blue was standing in front of her.

Mrs Harker?' he began. I'm Mike. I'm one of the nurses here. You came in with Dr Seward, didn't you?'

Mina nodded. She was still staring straight ahead. The only reason she could see Mike was because he was standing directly in front of her.

Mike pressed a warm plastic cup into her hand.

Here, I brought you some tea,' he said. You look like you could do with some. Listen, they're just prepping Dr Seward for surgery right now. I know that knife went pretty deep and I know it looks bad, but he's got Dr Collins looking after him and your friend couldn't be in better hands.'

Mina nodded. Mike still had his hand on hers so he gave it a comforting squeeze.

There's some policemen hanging around,' he continued, wanting to ask you some questions. I told them you were too shaken up to talk about it right now. Look, waiting rooms aren't the nicest of places to be stuck in. What say we take a walk outside? Your friend is going to be in there a while and you look like you could do with some fresh air.'

Mina managed a weak smile. Yes,' she murmured, I'd like that.'

* * *

Elsewhere, a boy was playing on the swings. He paused to glance at the chunky black watch on his wrist. And smiled.

* * *

Dr Jack Collins found Nurse Hathaway sitting on the edge of a trolley in the corridor outside of the operating theatre. Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself as if she were cold.

Marie, you okay?' Collins asked.

Yes, of course, Doctor, I'll be fine,' Marie stammered.

It's Jack,' Dr Collins insisted, and I'm not judging you.'

I'm sorry,' Marie said. It's just, the patient, Dr Sewardhe's so'

Crazy?' Dr Collins supplied. Touched in the head?'

I'm being silly, aren't I?' Marie said. But some of the things he said'

Marie closed her eyes, but rather than blackness, she could see the cramped operating theatre imprinted on the back of her eyelids. Dr Seward was lying on the gurney, long brown hair fanned out around his long face. He skin was an almost pristine white. He had lost a lot of blood, but they had managed to stabilise him. Now they needed to see what they could do about the damage to his heart. Suddenly, she could feel his cold fingers tightening around her wrist, his grey-blue eyes cut through her like a scalpel blade.

Where am I?' The words were soft. Had there been even the slightest breeze, Marie was sure it would have carried them away.

Marie tried to prise his fingers from her wrist, but they were stuck like glue.

You're in St Luke's hospital, Dr Seward,' Marie explained. She wanted to turn and cry for help, but she was held tight in the pull of his crystal clear gaze.

Seward? That's not my name. At least I don't think it is. And I would know, wouldn't I? Wouldn't I?' Dr Seward seemed particularly distressed by this point. And hospital? What would I be doing in hospital?'

You've been stabbed.' _And you shouldn't even be conscious_, Marie thought. We've brought you here for surgery.'

Surgery? Oh, I don't need surgery.' The man grinned. Caught my heart, didn't they? Hmm, better make that hearts. My, my, my, I am in a bad way. Good thing you came along when you did. I must have looked most undignified bleeding on to the pavement. Or is it sidewalk here? I'm sorry, but I didn't get much of a chance to familiarise myself with local geography.' He winked. Too busy being stabbed at the time, you see. But I've had my little nap now. I think it's well past time my body got on with the process of healing itself. Now, if you'll just help me off this bed'

I'm sorry, Dr Seward, but the human body doesn't work that way.' Marie was trying to be reasonable, but there was a note of hysteria creeping into her voice. You need surgery.'

Well, it's kind of you to offer, but I really don't think so. And by the way, human is such avague description, don't you think.' He sat bolt upright and placed his other hand against his bare chest. His skin was so pale, almost translucent. Blood was flowing from beneath the temporary dressings. Yes, I'm sure my hearts are already knitting themselves back together. I can feel them moving about in there.' His brow creased. I should feelOh no. No, this isn't right. This isn't right at all.' He grabbed hold of her other wrist, his grip tight enough to cut off her circulation. Marie, you've got to help me. Somethingsomething's interfering with the regenerative process. He's trying to kill me!' Dr Seward collapsed back on to the bed, throwing his head from side to side as he mumbled to himself. Got to help me. Got to help me. Got to help me.'

As his voice diminished had into nothingness, another nurse had finally managed to pry his fingers from Marie's wrists. Marie had fled from the room.

You don't have to go back in there, you know,' Dr Collins was saying. I can find someone else.'

No, no, I'm fine. Really,' Marie insisted. I'm just a bit shaken up, that's all.'

Well, if you sure.' Collins looked doubtful for a moment, before beaming back at her as he opened the theatre door. Let's go save a life.'

Marie took a couple of deep breaths before following Dr Collins inside. Dr Seward was still lying where she had left him, but now he was fully sedated. She wondered how he had known her name.

* * *

The boy had climbed off of the swing. Something shining in the grass had caught his eye. He bent down to pick it up. Holding the tiny hypodermic needle between finger and thumb, he laughed as he watched it catch the light. Finally tiring of the game, he pocketed the needle and set off across the park towards the blocks of flats.

* * *

Someone was hammering on the door. She could hear it rattling in its frame. It rattled in the wind, too, sometimes, but you could not expect the council to invest in quality.

Janine was still curled up on the floor in Tori's room. She had knocked over her daughter's collection of LPs when she fell and perfect faces stared mockingly at her from the glossy sleeves.

'Mrs Gallagher? Mrs Gallagher? Are you in there? It's Audrey.'

Audrey Beckett. Come to pay her respects, no doubt. Bloody hypocrite. Audrey was just here to spy, to see what gossip she could get from the tragedy to tell the other harpies at the bingo hall. She had not cared about Tori in life. Why should her death make any difference?

Janine wanted to shout at her, to tell her what she really thought, but she bit her tongue. Why give her more ammunition? If she stayed quiet, Audrey would eventually grow bored and go away. She just wished everyone would go away. First the ambulance men, then the police. They had still been questioning her when Scott had come in. She had tried to explain, tried to find the right words, but how do you tell someone their kid sister has killed herself.

He had turned around and ran right back out of the flat. She had wanted to go after him, but the policewoman had stopped her.

'Give him space,' she had said. 'He just needs some time.'

_Well, what about me_? Janine had wanted to shout back.

The vicar had called by a bit later to offer his condolences. Janine liked him, he was one of the few people prepared to make time for the Gallaghers, especially after Dave hadwell, it was not as if there were any secrets anymore. But Janine could not recall a word the vicar had said. She had offered him tea and they had sat in the kitchen while he made it for them. And she had shovelled spoon after spoon of sugar into her mug. And they had sat and talked, but Janine could not remember a word.

She could hear wailing in the distance. Slowly her mind began to focus on the noise. Timmy had woken up. She should go to him. But if she got up, if she left the room, she felt as if she would be saying goodbye to some part of Tori. But her baby needed her and Tori did not any more.

* * *

Aaron flicked the cigarette stub in the direction of the drain. It missed. He did not care.

There was a boy crossing the street in front of him. Aaron did not recognise him and he was dressed far to smart to be one of the local children.

'Hey kid, are you lost?' he asked. He pulled a fresh packet of cigarettes from his pocket and tore off the cellophane.

'Lost?' the kid giggled. He had a girl's voice. 'Aren't we all.'

'Great. Pop philosophy from a half-pint. This I need.' Aaron removed a cigarette and raised it to his lips.

'What about you, Aaron? Are you lost?' the child said. 'Shouldn't you be thinking of getting away from here after what you did?'

'What are you talking about?' Aaron demanded. 'Is this some kind of joke? Did Scott send you?'

'No, not Scott. Tell me, Aaron, how does it feel to take a life? Does it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?'

'Why you' Aaron dashed across the street and grabbed the boy by the scruff of his shirt. 'How do you know all that?'

Aaron was looking directly into the boy's eyes. He watched as the pupils expanded until the sockets were filled with pools of blackness. But there was something moving in the darkness. Hundreds and hundreds of snakes writhing just beneath the surface.

Aaron dropped the boy and staggered back.

'What are you?' he choked.

The boy straightened his shirt. 

'I can be whatever you want me to be. What do you want, Aaron?'

'I don't want nothing.' Aaron fumbled with his lighter, but his hands were shaking and he could not make it light.

'Suit yourself.' The boy shrugged. 'I'll go elsewhere then. Still, if you change you're mind, all you've got to do is whistle. You do know how to whistle, don't you?' He turned to go, then added, 'Just one more thing. Here.'

'What?' Aaron asked.

The end of his cigarette ignited.

* * *

'Shh, everything's gonna be all right. Mummy's here.'

She was rocking Timmy in her arms. She had just changed him and they were still in the kitchen.

'Everything's gonna be just fine.'

She was crying. She could not remember when she had started or if she had ever stopped. How was she going to tell Timmy? He was too young to understand, but he would remember Tori and sooner or later he would want to know where she had gone. What was she supposed to say?

It had been okay for Tori. When things had got too tough she had taken the easy way out. Left all her troubles far behind her. Left Janine to pick up the pieces. She was the one who had to deal with the fallout.

There was a knife on the draining board. It was the big knife she used for carving. She shifted Timmy's weight to one arm and picked up the knife. It was very light. It did not feel strong at all, but she remembered the ease with which she had sliced through that chicken last weekend, the remains of which was still in a plastic bag on the top shelf of the fridge. She had meant to use it for dinner tonight, but who was left to eat it.

Janine studied the edge of the carving knife. So delicate. So tempting. No more judgmental looks from the rest of the congregation. No more trying to pretend she was a good mother. No more waking up in the middle of the night wishing Dave was there to hold her. No more trying to carry on without her daughter. She could end it all.

She threw the knife into the sink and ran out of the kitchen.

She ended up in Tori's room, Timmy still in her arms.

'Please,' she said. 'Please, I just want my baby back.'

'That can be arranged.'

Janine looked up. The face of a child stared back at her from the mirror.

* * *

'Feeling better now?' Mike asked.

The hospital backed on to the school playing fields and he and Mina were watching the football team practising.

'A little,' Mina replied. 'Thank you.'

'All part of the service,' Mike said. 'So, you and this doctor, you're close?'

'No, not really,' Mina admitted. 'I only met him recently so I can't say that I really know him. He's so strange, so mysterious, but he knows things. He's seen things and I've seen things and he understands them. It's a relief to find out I'm not going mad and these things that I think I've seen really do exist.'

'I'd like to say I understand,' Mike said, 'but I'm really not following any of this.'

Mina attempted a smile.

'Let's just say he's someone I can talk to.'

'Must be nice,' Mike said, 'having someone to talk to.'

An object at Mike's belt started bleeping.

'Look, I've got to go,' Mike confessed. 'I'll find you if there's any news.'

He started to run back towards the hospital. Mina watched him until he passed through the entrance and the doors slid closed, hiding him from view.

'It's hopeless. You do know that, don't you.'

Mina looked around. A schoolboy was standing at her shoulder.

'I'm sorry?'

'Life,' the boy said. 'It's hopeless. You spend all of your time trying to hold on to it, but it's guaranteed to slip through your fingers in the end. Always does.'

'We all die sometime,' Mina agreed, 'we just try to make the best of what time we have.'

'What a quaint idea,' the boy commented. 'But what if you didn't have to die? What if you could turn back death?'

'Nobody can do that,' Mina said. 'I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I would like to be alone, if you don't mind.'

'Of course you would,' the boy said. 'You're worried about your friend. He's going to die in there.'

'He's' Mina paled. 'I want you to leave. Now.'

'If you like, but I can save him. I'm the one that can cheat death.'

'I told you, nobody can do that.'

'That's just what they want you to think,' the boy explained, 'but it can be done. Anything's possible once you set your mind to it. There's a price, of course.'

'What price?' Mina asked.

'Your soul,' the boy replied. 'It's a fair trade. One life, one soul. And let's be honest, it's not as if most people have much use for their soul in this day and age. Wouldn't you much rather have your friend back?'

'I think I've heard quite enough,' Mina said, straining to keep her voice level. 'Now leave before I call the police.'

The boy shrugged.

'It's your funeral. Or his, rather. I'll be around though, in case you change your mind. Think about it.'

* * *

Excuse us,' one man said politely.

Out of the way,' the other called, less so.

Mina pressed herself against the wall as the men wheeled the trolley past her at high speed. She caught a glimpse of the woman on the trolley, her face one large burn.

A little girl bawled at the other end of the corridor. Her father held her tightly against his chest while he stared hopelessly after his wife.

Mina hurried away.

She had come back inside when she had begun to notice the cold. She had no particular destination in mind. The child's words were churning in her gut. Where could she go? The Doctor had given her a key to the TARDIS, but she did not understand how it worked. She could, she supposed, keep pressing switches at random until she arrived where she wanted to be, but how long would that take? With all the possible places at all possible periods in history, what really were her chances of finding her way home?

But could she stay here? Within hours of her arrival she had seen a woman being attacked by a gang of youths and then watched as the Doctor had been run though with a knife. What sort of place was this to live in? And then there was the strangeness of it all. The Doctor had again taken her to what he described as her future' with its strange landscapes and motorised carriages belching black smoke. It was less frightening than it had been when she arrived in San Francisco, but it was still an alien world to a schoolmistress from the end of the nineteenth century.

Perhaps her friends in San Francisco would be able to help her, but she did not know if they were even alive at this point in time, nor did she know if she could afford passage on a ship going to America. When all was said and done, and in spite of everything she had been through, she needed the Doctor.

Excuse me.'

Mina looked up. A large man with red hair and beard was looking down at her. He had a wide, expressive face made for laughing and merriment, but Mina thought that he had sad eyes.

It is Mrs Harker, isn't it,' he continued. You came in with Dr Seward?'

Yes, I am Mina Harker. What's the matter? Is there something wrong?'

Mina wondered who was speaking; the voice was too shrill to be her own.

I'm Dr Collins. I've been operating on Dr Seward. Perhaps you'd like to come into my office,' the man suggested.

Why, what is it? Has something happened? He's going to be all right, isn't he?'

Mrs Harker, I'm so very, very sorry.'

* * *

Janine Gallagher sat on the edge of Tori's bed, Timmy asleep in her arms. Scott had yet to come home. Rain hammered against the windows and the door rattled in the wind. 

There was a picture on the bedside cabinet, a photograph in a plain silver frame. It was a picture Dave had taken of them when they had visited Blackpool. Scott was sitting on the edge of the wall overlooking the beach, a false smile on his face, looking for all the world as if he wanted to be somewhere else. Janine was sitting next to him. She had been six months pregnant and the strain of hauling the baby about was showing on her face.

Tori was the only one of them who looked like she was enjoying herself. She was leaning towards the camera pulling a face, her eyes sparkling with laughter. Her hair had frizzed up and was sticking out in all directions in spite of her efforts to try to come it into shape after she had been soaked on the water slide.

Please,' Janine whispered, bring me my daughter back.'

* * *

The rain darkened Mina's dark brown hair to black. Her coat flapped open, neglected, and her dress moulded itself to her skin.

You'll catch a cold like that,' the boy said, striding across the playing fields towards her.

Go away,' Mina said. Or perhaps she only thought it since the words seemed so faint.

I could,' the ginger-haired child replied, but I don't think that's what you really want.'

Mina ignored him, instead watching the muddy puddle forming at the base of the nearby goal posts.

He's dead, isn't he,' the boy said. He took a sweet from his pocket, stared at it, then put it back. Told you so.'

What do you want?'

Wrong question.' The boy was hopping from foot to foot. It's what do _you_ want? Or even, how much do you want it?'

You're serious, aren't you?' Mina said. My soul for his life?'

That's the deal,' the boy agreed.

Mina frowned. Nobody can bring back the dead.'

You think? Watch.'

The boy crouched down, placing his left hand on the ground. A money spider scuttled on to the back of his hand. He stood up, turning his hand so that the spider could wander across his palm. It hurried up the length of the boy's index finger. And he crushed it between his finger and his thumb.

Whoops. Now it's going to rain,' the boy said, looking heavenwards. Mina's eyes widened. In spite of the shower, the boy and his clothes were still dry.

The boy scraped the broken body of the spider on to the palm of his right hand.

Dead as a dodo,' the boy muttered. Or a doctor. Catch!'

He threw the spider at Mina and somehow she managed to catch it in her hands. The creature got to its feet and scurried down Mina's wrist and onto the sleeve of her dress. Shocked, she cried out, and shook her arm until the spider fell away.

Still have doubts?' the boy asked.

Mina could not look at him.

His life. Your soul. Your choice.'

Mina looked back at the flat grey hospital building were the Doctor's body was lying. She fingered the twin wounds beneath her scarf.

Will it hurt?' she asked.

* * *

Stewart Lock wheeled the gurney into the mortuary. The girl had been struck by a bus and her spine had snapped. She was dead before the ambulance reached the hospital. Stewart had become hardened against handling corpses after five years as a mortuary attendant – was happy to joke about his work down at The Plough – but you never got used to the sight of a dead kid. Ever.

The sooner he got her into storage the better as far as he was concerned.

There was a hammering coming from one of the lockers.

Hello?' Stewart called out. Baz, is that you? If this is some kind of joke'

With a sigh, Stewart opened the locker door.

The body was twitching. If he had not been dead, Stewart would have said the guy was having an epileptic fit. Stewart pulled the shelf out of the locker so that he could get a better look.

The corpse was that of a white male, early thirties, slender and with long brown hair. As Stewart watched, the body continued to twitch and with each movement it seemed to distort in shape. The pale skin shifted in a way that made Stewart's stomach turn over. It was as if there was something beneath the surface straining to get out. Stewart turned to the door, planning to go and get help.

The corpse screamed.

Stewart could not help himself. He turned for another look.

The body arched like a bow, rippling and distorting as it did so. As the figure appeared to gain mass, so its skin darkened and became leathery. His hair receded and began to grey before Stewart's eyes.

The corpse sat up and Stewart fled from the room.

This is getting to be a habit,' the Doctor growled.

* * *

There was a noise in the hallway.

Janine looked up sharply. She had been resting her head against Timmy and the sudden movement caused him to wake up. He burst into tears.

Janine rocked him gently, trying to murmur comforting words while glancing about nervously in search of an intruder. There was a figure reflected in the mirror.

The eyes that looked back at her were bloodshot, puffy and red from crying. Pale skin absorbed the light reflected from the walls giving the intruder a jaundiced look. Her long blonde hair was pulled savagely away from her face and held in place by an elastic band.

Janine echoed her son's tears.

Mum?' Tori said.


	3. Episode Three

Episode Three

The rain had left the air smelling clean and refreshed. A duck glided along the river with a stately grace, while her ducklings trailed behind in a more haphazard fashion. A squirrel watched them from its perch in the crook of a tree branch, the leaves around it already dusted with the first yellow of autumn.

A car rattled up the street carrying its owner to work. A cat cried out as the car thundered through a puddle hurling up a wall of spray. Back arched in irritation, the cat eased its way through the narrow bars of the fence and into the churchyard. Its paws scrunched the sandy-coloured gravel of the path as it bounded inside the church for warmth.

* * *

'The Bible teaches us that God created all of the creatures that walk the planet. He created the beasts of the earth, the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. And he created man. And man, more than any of the others, is somehow special.

'But what is it that sets us apart from all of the other animals? We are made of flesh and blood just like any other creature and anyone who has watched the chimps or the dolphins at the zoo – or has teenage children – would argue that it's not our intelligence that makes us unique. No, what human beings possess, that thing that, in my opinion, no other animal has, is a soul.

'But what do we mean by a soul?'

'An interesting question.'

Reverend James Keating looked up from his notes. There was a man sitting at the end of a pew near the back of the church. He was stooping to pet a cat that had strayed inside.

'I'm sorry, I didn't realise anyone was in here,' Keating said.

'That's quite all right, the man said, sitting up. 'I enjoyed listening to you.'

The man was dark skinned, with hair that had once been black, but was not peppered by white and grey. He peered at Keating over half-moon spectacles that rested on the bridge of his wide nose.

'I do hope I'm not intruding,' the man said.

'Not at all,' Keating assured the stranger as he descended from the pulpit. 'I wish I could say that the door is always open, but, what with the vandalism around here, we've had to start locking the church. Still, as long as someone is here, you are more than welcome, Mr?'

The man smiled beneath his neatly trimmed beard and got to his feet.

'Doctor,' he corrected, extending his hand.

Keating took it and was surprised by the strength of the Doctor's handshake.

'James Keating,' he responded. 'Call me James.'

'James it is then.' The Doctor's voice was a low rumble, which seemed to echo within the empty church. He was about a foot taller than Keating and the vicar found his head pulled upwards by the strength of the Doctor's stare. The large brown eyes seemed to expect something of him, something he was not sure he could give.

'I was just preparing for Sunday's sermon,' Keating explained hurriedly. 'I like to rehearse my words in here before hand. See what they sound like in the proper surroundings.'

'Interesting,' the Doctor said.

'I'm sorry?'

'The words. They sound interesting,' the Doctor explained. 'I find the concept of a non-corporeal side to the self fascinating.'

'But you're not a believer,' Keating deduced.

'Sometimes I think I've seen too much not to believe,' the Doctor admitted.

'But you don't,' Keating persisted.

'Let's say, I've yet to be convinced,' the Doctor replied, 'but I'm keeping an open mind.'

The doors to the church banged open and a tall woman with grey hair tied up in a bun barged into the nave. She cradled a pile of books in her arms.

'Mrs Beckett,' Keating called out, feeling guilty for having to fake his enthusiasm. 'Is it time all ready?'

'Half-nine precisely, vicar,' Mrs Beckett pronounced sharply, setting her music books down on a pew. 'Time for me to rehearse this week's pieces, _as usual_.'

'Of course, of course,' Keating said, ignoring the sarcasm. 'Well, we'll leave you in peace then.'

'Yes, that would be best.' 

Mrs Beckett's spectacles hang from a chain about her neck. She used her left hand to set them on the end of her nose. She glared through them at the Doctor. 

'And who might this be?' she asked.

'I am the Doctor.' 

He stepped forward and extended his hand.

Mrs Beckett made no move to take it.

'Indeed,' she said.

There was a long silence as Mrs Beckett gaze bored into the Doctor and he in turn refused to be cowed.

'Well, perhaps we should continue her discussion outside, Doctor?' Keating suggested.

'After you,' the Doctor said, still matching Mrs Beckett stare for stare.

She looked away.

'As if we didn't have enough problems all ready,' she muttered, gathering up her books and scuttling up the nave towards the organ.

Shaking his head, the Doctor slung a battered leather satchel over his shoulder and stepped out into the sunlight, the stray cat at his heels.

* * *

Bacon popped and crackled under the grill. Janine cracked an egg into an old mug and then poured it into the hot oil in the frying pan.

'Something smells good,' Tori remarked. She was standing in the kitchen doorway, her hair hanging loose about her face. She was wearing an old dressing gown and her bunny slippers, the ones with an ear missing.

Janine took a moment simply to watch her daughter.

'Mum,' Tori said at last, 'you're starting to scare me.'

'I'm sorry,' Janine said. She looked away briefly, then glanced back. 'It's justI missed you, Tori. I missed you and now you're back andand I don't know what to do and'

'And the bacon's burning,' Tori said. She took a couple of plates from the cupboard above the sink and helped dish up breakfast while her mother attended to Timmy.

Timmy's highchair was on wheels so it slid silently across the tiled kitchen floor as Janine manoeuvred it over to the table. Screeching followed in Tori's wake, however, as she dragged over a chair for herself.

'Dave would've had a fit if he'd caught you doing that,' Janine said.

Tori glared and her mother looked away.

Tori attacked her crispy bacon, her knife skidding across the plate when the bacon suddenly cracked. Janine moved her own plate to one side as she attempted to feed Timmy. Timmy smiled and gurgled as he steadfastly refused to open his mouth to accept the spoon. When Janine finally did him to empty the spoon, Timmy fired the contents back at her.

'I'll get a cloth,' Tori said, sliding her chair backwards.

'No, I've got it,' Janine said. She turned on the cold tap and ran the water over a cloth.

Tori watched her.

'Tori,' Janine began, 'I'm sorry. For what Dave did.'

'He beat me,' Tori said. She dipped the end of her bacon into her egg and dragged the runny yolk around her plate.

'I know'

'No. You don't know,' Tori said. Her voice was calm and level, devoid of anger or any other emotion. 'He hit me. Discipline, he said. It was assault.'

'He didn't know any better,' Janine protested.

'Mum, he came at me with a knife,' Tori responded. 'I still have the scar.'

Janine turned off the tap.

'I know,' she said quietly. 'I was there.'

'Yes, Mum,' Tori replied, 'you were there and you didn't stop him.'

'What was I supposed to do?' Janine demanded hotly. 'Do you think you were the only person frightened of him?

'He never laid a finger on you,' Tori shot back. 'Not once.'

'And you think that means I wasn't scared?' Janine asked. 'Scared for me. Scared of what he might do to you.'

'What he might do to me? You could see what he was doing to me.'

'But what ifwhat if whatever I did made it worse?'

'You could have left him,' Tori said.

'I loved him,' Janine replied.

Janine had her back to her daughter, but she could feel Tori's accusing stare boring into her.

'You what?' Tori exclaimed.

'I loved him.' It was easier for Janine to admit second time around. 'I was scared of him and I hated him, but he was still the man I married and I still loved him.'

'More than your kids?' Tori asked.

'No, no of course not,' Janine insisted. 'How can you think that?'

'Let's see,' Tori began, 'could it be the fact that you let him beat me?'

'II didn't know what to do.'

The raised voices had upset Timmy and he started to cry. Janine scooped him up in her arms and tried to comfort him.

'I don't understand you, Mum,' Tori said. 'How could you let Timmy stay in the same flat as that monster?'

'Dave would never have hurt Timmy,' Janine said. 'He's his baby, too.'

'And what about me?' Tori asked. 'It's a good thing he walked out when he did. Otherwise I might have'

'Have what?' Janine demanded. 'Killed yourself?'

Tori looked away and Janine bounced Timmy up and down gently until he quietened.

'I'm sorry,' Janine whispered. 'That was uncalled for. The important thing is that we're together again. As a family.'

Tori laughed. It was a horrible sound and Janine found herself taking an involuntary step backwards, shielding Timmy's face against her chest.

'You really don't get it, do you?' Tori mocked. 'I didn't ask you to bring me back. I chose to die. That's what I wanted.'

'How can you say that?'

'What, you think I want to grow up to be like you?' Tori asked. 'To have a gaggle of squealing children and a violent husband? To live in a council flat and scrape by on child benefit and the dole? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to get out of here? Do you? All I wanted was to get into college, to have a chance to make something of myself. But my sort isn't welcome out there. I'm supposed to stay in the gutter where I belong.'

'So you killed yourself because you couldn't get into college?' Janine said.

'You don't understand,' Tori insisted. 'You don't know what it's like. All I ever wanted to do was get away, away from this life. And in the endin the end I was only left with one way out.'

Tori buried her head in her hands, her body shaken by silent sobs.

Janine stepped forward, her hand hovering just above Tori's shoulder, hesitant to actually touch her.

'I'm sorry. Oh baby, I'm so sorry.'

'Sorry!' Tori whirled on her. 'You brought me back! I wanted to escape and you brought me back. You couldn't just leave well enough alone, could you?'

'Tori' Janine put her arm around her daughter.

Tori shoved her away. She shot to her feet, sending her chair skidding across the floor.

'Leave me alone,' she shouted. She ran from the room.

'Tori!' Janine called after her.

'Go to hell!'

The front door slammed closed.

'Nice to see the mother-daughter bonding is going so well,' a whining voice commented.

The ginger-haired boy was perched on the worktop, his heels banging against the cupboard doors as he swung his legs to and fro.

'How did you get in here?' Janine demanded.

'Humans,' the boy sighed. 'It's okay for me to raise the dead, but an unannounced entrance is big news.'

The boy hopped down from his perch and began to walk around the edge of the kitchen towards her. Janine began to move as well, keeping the table between herself and the intruder.

'What do you want?' she asked.

'I did you a service,' the boy explained, 'and, though it delights me to see the two of you together, there's no such thing as a free lunch. You owe me a soul and I'm here to collect.'

* * *

Keating ushered the Doctor into the vicarage. 

'Welcome to my humble abode,' Keating said.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

'I know what you're thinking,' Keating said.

The Doctor frowned.

'You're thinking that this is hardly humble compared to what my parishoners have to put up with. And you'd be right. But the church feels it's clergy should live in a certain style and I am but a little fish in a very big ocean.'

'Who complains vigorously about the injustice I'm sure,' the Doctor remarked.

'Well, if I thought it would do any good'

'Don't worry, James, I'm not here to judge,' the Doctor assured Keating.

'Then why are you here?' Keating asked.

'We're not going to get philosophical, are we?' the Doctor joked. 'The truth is, I'm not entirely sure. I thought if I just wondered around a bit things might start falling into place.'

'And have they?' Keating led the Doctor through to the sitting room.

'Not as yet,' the Doctor replied. 'Still, lovely day for it.'

'You'd think that, wouldn't you,' Keating said. 'Make yourself at home. I'll just go and put the kettle on.'

'What do you mean, I'd think that?' the Doctor asked as he took off his satchel and duffel coat and draped them over the arm of a brown settee.

'Of course, you haven't heard, have you.' Keating filled the kettle up at the sink, then lit the gas beneath it.

'I would assume not,' the Doctor remarked, 'given that I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about.'

Keating emerged from the kitchen and opened a tupperware box on the sideboard.

'Humbug?' he offered.

The Doctor declined.

'A teenage girl committed suicide yesterday,' Keating explained, unwrapping a sweet for himself. 'She overdosed on her mother's sleeping pills.'

Keating popped the sweet into his mouth, then rushed back into the kitchen as the kettle began to whistle.

'I'm sorry,' the Doctor said. 'Where you close?'

'We used to chat after Sunday services,' Keating said as he poured the tea into china cups. 'She was very sharp. Look, do you mind if we talk about something else.'

'Not at all.' The Doctor accepted his cup and settled back on the settee. He picked up a framed photograph.

'Your wife?' he asked.

'Maureen, yes,' Keating replied.

'Will she be back soon?'

'My wife died eight years ago, Doctor,' Keating explained. 'I moved up here shortly afterwards. The house just didn't feel right any more.'

'I'm sorry. I seem to be making a habit of putting my foot in my mouth,' the Doctor said.

'It's not your fault,' Keating assured him. 'I'm sure her soul is in a better place.'

The Doctor sipped his tea and smiled.

'Yes. You never did get to finish telling me what you thought about souls.'

'Do you like music?' Keating asked. He didn't wait for a reply, crossing instead to a stack of LPs in the corner. 'I'm a jazz nut myself. Charlie Parker. Dizzie Gillespie. I'm particularly fond of Chet Baker. Listen to this.' 

He took a record from its sleeve and placed it on the record player. The needle bounced twice over a scratch, but finally settled into the groove. A haunting, fragile voice took up the strains of _My Funny Valentine_.

'You feel that?' Keating asked. 'You don't just hear the music, you feel it. You react emotionally to it. That, to me, is your soul. I'm not talking about lusts or desires or physical needs, but pure emotions resonate within the soul.'

'Pure emotions?' the Doctor repeated.

'Love, Doctor,' Keating continued. 'The ability to put the needs of others above those of yourself. An ability to distinguish between right and wrong.'

'So you're saying that the soul is our conscience.'

Keating looked deflated.

'Well, if you want to be really simplistic then yes,' Keating agreed. 'But it goes beyond that. It reflects the fundamentally human trait of being able to reach beyond our desires and to make a moral judgement to do the right thing.'

* * *

Mina slumped in the plastic seat. She should be sitting up straight, hands folded in her lap. That was the proper way for a lady to behave, wasn't it? But that was uncomfortable and she should not have to sacrifice her comfort for appearance sake, should she? She could recall her lessons, her instruction on how a respectable lady should behave - what she should wear and say, how she should act - but it all seemed so distant now, sopointless. And while Mina wrestled with these ideas she continued to slump.

'Mrs Harker?'

Mina looked up. Mike was standing over her.

'I didn't expect to find you here,' Mike said.

Mina was staring at his chest. He seemed a well-built young man. She wondered what that chest looked like beneath his blue nurse's uniform.

She shook herself.

Where had that thought come from? This was not like her. This was wrong. At least, she thought it was wrong. She remembered it being wrong. So why could she not remember why?

'II'm sorry,' Mina said. 'What was that you said.'

'I said I didn't expect to find you here,' Mike said. 

He dropped into a crouch in front of Mina. 

'Are you all right?' he asked. 'You look flushed.'

Mina looked up at him. He had a square jaw, a strong jaw. She could see the fine stubble leading up to his cheekbones. She wondered what it would feel like to run her fingers over it.

_Enough, Mina!_ she scolded herself. _You are not having these thoughts._

But she was.

_This is wrong,_ she told herself. _This is so very, very wrong._

But it felt right. If she wanted him, why couldn't she just have him.

_Wilhemina Harker, pull yourself together this instant!_

She tore her eyes away from the nurse, looking for something else, anything else, to focus on.

'Mrs Harker?' Mike repeated.

'I-I am fine,' she insisted.

_But you're not, are you?_ a traitorous voice whispered. _But you could be. You know what you want. Why don't you just reach out and take it._

Why not indeed?

'You know, if you're not ill then you really can't stay here,' Mike was saying.

'I can't?' Mina was not really listening. Mike's voice was being drowned out by the voices in her head.

'Well, much as I'd like you to stay, this is a hospital,' Mike explained. 'Sick people only.'

'O-Of course,' Mina agreed. That was the third person she had seen fetching a drink from that machine over there. What would the fourth person be like?

_He wants you_, the voice whispered.

Tall or short? Fat or thin?

_He said so himself. He wants you to stay._

A man or a woman? Perhaps a little girl. Yes, a little girl with blonde hair. With plaits down her back.

_And you want him. What's the problem. You only have to reach out and take._

Plaits down her back tied with red ribbons. Her sister plaits her hair for her before she goes to school in the morning.

'Do you have somewhere to go?' Mike asked.

'Yes,' Mina said distractedly. 'No. Maybe. Do you think she would have freckles or not?'

'I'm sorry? Freckles?'

'That girl over there. The one with the plaits and the red ribbons and the sister and'

Her words were tripping over each other, racing to escape.

'Mrs Harker, I really think we should get you to a doctor,' Mike said. 'Here, let me help you.'

He reached out a hand and touched her shoulder.

Mina flinched away. Her shoulder felt hot where he had touched it and the warmth was spreading across her body, invading her. And it felt good.

_This is wrong_, her own weak voice was telling her.

_Go on, take, _the other voice, just as much her own, ordered.

'I've got to go,' Mina stammered. She pulled away from the nurse and ran from the room.

A red headed boy was standing at the drinks' machine as she passed. He smiled to himself as he watched her flight.

* * *

The saucer chimed as the Doctor set his cup down.

'Tell me,' he said, 'have there been any strangers around lately? Within the last day or so?'

'Hmm, I'm not sure,' Keating replied. 'I keep myself pretty wrapped up in my work.'

'Please,' the Doctor said, 'it could be important.'

'Regarding what you're looking for?' Keating asked. 'Well, there was something. Yesterday, while Tori waswell, anyway, there was a stabbing down by Arundel House. A man and a woman. No one seemed to know who they were.'

The Doctor leaned forward.

'Tell me about the woman,' he prompted.

'Not much to tell,' Keating admitted. 'She had been taken to the hospital by the time I got there. I do remember someone making a comment about her clothes, though. Dickens.'

'Dickens said something about her clothes?'

'No, no. Her clothes reminded him of Dickens. She looked like a character from one of his novels. Hey, you don't think they're making a TV thing around here, do you?'

'I'm sorry, I wasn't listening,' the Doctor confessed.

'I was just saying that maybe they were part of some TV thing or another,' Keating explained. 'The BBC do some wonderful period dramas, don't you think?'

'I find that TV isn't what it used to be,' the Doctor commented. 'Where can I findArundel House, wasn't it?'

'Yes, Arundel House,' Keating replied. 'Fancy name for two blocks of council flats. Over that way. You can't miss them, they're the tallest buildings for miles.'

* * *

Janine looked out of the window. There were people far below, wandering through their meaningless lives. They all looked the same from up here. 

_I could be one of them?_ she thought. _Is that really what it's come down to. Am I just going through the motions, day after day? Maybe Tori had the right idea._

She was rocking Timmy gently in her arms. He was heavy and her arms were beginning to ache, but the rocking kept him quiet. Between the pain in her arms and the squealing in her arms, she could tolerate his weight.

_What's the point? What's it all for?_

Her mum had wanted her to be a dancer, back when she still had the figure for it. They had had dance lessons at school and she knew she was good at it. The other girls worked too hard on trying to remember the steps, trying not to forget to keep their heads up or their arms out or to point their toes. Janey, as she had been known, had not worried about any of those things. She simply lost herself in the music and danced.

Her dance teacher had convinced her mum to send her to dance school and her dad had approached the building society for a second mortgage to pay for it. But Janine had turned them all down. 

Dancing was fun and all, but she wanted a family. She did not want the adulation of a theatre crowd. She wanted to see the love in the face of her own child. 

Plus, she had been two months pregnant with Dave's kid and hadn't told anyone yet.

At the time it had seemed the right thing to do, but now a voice kept asking her _why_? Why had she given up the opportunity of being a star to subject her body to the rigours of childbirth, not once, but three times over. She had put her own life on hold to pander to her children's needs and for what? Well, it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

And now?

_What do you want?_ a voice inside her demanded. I want to get out of here, Janine admitted. Tori was right, this was a waste of a life. Tori had taken the easy way out, but at least she had the guts to reach out and take what she wanted.

Timmy gurgled in her arms. He was a curious creature. Still completely dependent upon her. He trusted her to make him safe. And in return she offered him the same life she had offered Tori. A life of pain, of misery and with no light at the end of the tunnel to look forward to.

Janine's eyes alighted on the large kitchen knife in the washing up bowl. The black handle felt warm in her palm.

* * *

The wind tore at Mina's flesh through the thin material of her blouse.

It had been warm inside the hospital. She should go back there.

No. No, she would not.

She would go back to the TARDIS. Yes, the Doctor would be waiting for her there. Assuming the child had managed to bring him back. She thought of what she had sacrificed for him. Why? Why had she done that? What was the Doctor to her?

Her memories confused her. Her actions did not make sense. Repeatedly she made the choice to suffer while another benefited. That was not right, surely? She was missing something, some piece of the puzzle that would bring it all into focus.

Either that or she really was going mad.

She would go back to the TARDIS. The Doctor would know what was going on.

But his behaviour was even more contradictory than her own. Less than a day ago he had chosen to interrupt an altercation that had nothing to do with them and, as a result, he had ended up with a knife through his heart. Why? Why had he done it?

Her head throbbed. She put her hands to her temples and felt the pressure building against her palms. She had to do something to rid herself of this pain. She needed to understand.

She scrunched up her eyes and prayed that the world would stop spinning.

When she opened them again there was boy standing on the other side of the road. 

Mina recognised him. He was the boy who had spoken to her last night. He had done this to her, whatever it was. He would be able to put it right.

The boy met her eyes and then ran off down the street.

Mina hurried after him.

* * *

Aaron lounged against the wall of the fish and chip shop picking the dirt out from beneath his fingernails. He had once tried to do this with his penknife, thinking it would look cool, but had ended up having three stitches in his hand. He tried to look composed and relaxed. He knew that he was failing miserably.

'What are you looking at!' he demanded of a bespectacled man as he passed.

The man darted into the chip shop without answering.

Aaron went back to his fingernails.

He had known. That man had known about yesterday. He had known that

_Get it together, Aaron, _he scolded himself. _He doesn't know nothing._

Nobody knew. Only that was not quite true was it. His gang would not say anything, but there was that woman. And Scott's sister, but she was dead now. Killed herself, the stupid cow. He wondered if it had been because of what he had tried to do. Well, it wasn't as if he'd had the chance to do anything, really. If she was going to top herself the least she could have done was let him have his fun first.

But what about the other woman, the one in the fancy dress? What had they been thinking going out dressed like that? They were practically begging for trouble. Maybe they weren't thinking. Maybe they were touched in the head. Yeah, that was it. He'd probably done the poor bloke a favour.

He was not convincing himself.

A tall black man in a blue duffel coat was standing in front of the _Boots_ opposite. And he was staring at Aaron.

Something about the way those eyes were studying him made Aaron very cold indeed. He should probably ignore him, wait until he got bored and moved on.

'Oi, darkie,' he cried out. 'What do you think you're playing at?'

The man started to cross the road. A red Volkswagon had to brake suddenly to avoid him. The driver thumped the horn.

The man in the coat ignored him.

'I know you, don't I?' the man said to Aaron. 'I've seen you somewhere before.'

'Not likely, mate,' Aaron said. The man's closeness made his skin crawl. 'I'd remember someone as ugly as you.'

'It was recent, wasn't it,' the man continued. 'You were with a girl.'

'You'll have to narrow it down more than that,' Aaron joked. 'I've been with lots of girls.'

The man put his hand on the wall above Aaron's shoulder. His coat brushed Aaron's legs.

'This one was unwilling,' the man said. 'Do you remember _her_? Of course, it probably didn't matter to you because you had a knife.'

'Like this?'

Aaron pulled the knife from his pocket. It caught on the lining, but he tore it free and waved it at the other man.

'Now back off,' he warned. 'I'm not afraid to use this.'

'I know.'

The man's hand clamped down on Aaron's wrist. He had not even seen him move. The man's grip increased and Aaron's grip on the knife weakened. He dropped it and it fell into the palm of his assailant's free hand.

'You shouldn't play with sharp objects,' the man scolded.

'I wasn't playing,' Aaron retorted.

The man tightened his grip and Aaron felt the bones in his wrist grinding against each other. He squealed like a baby and he hated himself for doing it. But he hated the man more.

'I know you,' the man whispered, 'and I know what you've done. Remember that.'

He turned the knife so that he was holding it by the blade and offered it back to Aaron. Mutely, he accepted it.

The man spun on his heel and strode off down the street. 

Aaron did not follow.

* * *

Mina leaned against the metal railing and scanned the ground below. She was looking for the red-headed child. She had followed him here from the hospital and was sure that she had seen him climb this building, but now that she was up here herself there was no sign of him. She had thought that maybe he had gone through one of the doors that lined the wall behind her, but there were all locked up. She had tried knocking to attract attention, but no matter how loud she pounded she would get no response.

She slammed her palms against the top of the rail in frustration. She wanted, no, she needed answers and she knew that the child could provide them. But where was he?

Her stomach growled. Her first reaction was one of embarrassment, but that was almost instantly replaced by curiosity and perplexity. Why should she feel embarrassed over what was a natural response of her own body? And, now that she began to think about it, why should she feel embarrassed about anything at all? What function did embarrassment serve? She was beginning to believe that she was waking up from a dream. When you are dreaming, she reasoned, everything that happens make sense, real logic becomes replaced by dream logic, and it is only when you wake up that you realise that you can't in fact fly.

Her stomach rumbled again. When had she last eaten? She knew that she had had a meal on board the TARDIS, but how long ago was that?

She could hear singing. It was faint, but she recognised it as a lullaby. It reminded her of a song she had sung to Quincey, but that seemed a long time ago now. Mina strained her ears and traced the sound to a green door, the third door from the staircase she had used to climb this far. She knew that the door was locked, but something made her try the handle anyway. 

The door swung open.

Somewhere in the distance a child laughed as she crossed the threshold.

The room beyond was dark and cramped. Objects were strewn haphazardly over the floor and across the furniture. Something in Mina wanted to stop and try and bring a little order to this chaos, but she was more interested in finding the source of the lullaby. A short corridor led her to an open door and into a small bedroom. A mirror hung on the wall opposite the door and thin curtains fluttered in the breeze coming through the open window. A woman was sitting on the bed, humming softly to the bloody remains in her lap.

Mina's stomach growled again.

* * *

'I'm waiting.'

Aaron stared straight ahead. He did not need to turn to know that the boy was standing behind him.

'Well, aren't you going to whistle?' the boy asked.

Aaron did not respond. 

The boy stepped round in front of Aaron, brushing his arm as he did so. Aaron flinched, but refused to look down at the child.

'You're scared,' the boy said. 'Somebody knows your big bad secret. Well, what are you going to do about it, Aaron?'

The boy prodded Aaron in the gut. Aaron tensed, but refused to be provoked. He told himself that he did not want to hurt the boy. The truth was that he did not believe that it would be the boy getting hurt.

'What is this?' the boy demanded. 'The big tough bully reduced to the mewling kitten. What would all your playground victims give to see you now? But it doesn't have to be this way.'

The boy stood on tiptoe so that he could whisper into Aaron's ear. His breath felt like dozens of tiny insects trying to crawl into Aaron's skull.

'You can be the thing they're scared of again, you know. All you have to do is shut this guy up once and for all. And you know what? I'd like to help you with that. If you'll let me.'

* * *

Someone had tried to wash the blood off of the pavement, but a dark brown stain was still visible, if you knew where to look for it. The boy was staring at that stain when the Doctor arrived in the alley.

'Not the place I would have chosen for my final moments,' the boy said. 'Lacks a certain class.'

'I know you, don't I,' the Doctor said.

The boy cocked his head to one side.

'Now that would be telling.'

'What have you done with Mina?'

'Always with the questions.' The boy tutted. 'What happened to a bit of verbal sparring? Now the other guy'

The Doctor grabbed the boy by his shirt, lifted him up and slammed him against the wall.

'I don't have time for games,' the Doctor snarled.

The boy smiled.

'This is a new look for you, isn't it,' he said. 'I like.'

The Doctor dropped the boy and stared at his own hands.

'Don't like what you're becoming?' the boy asked. 'Tough luck. This is who you are now. Thanks to me.'

'What have you done?'

'And again with the questions.' The boy got up. 'Are you going to try and beat me up again because that was fun. Tell you what, Doc, I'll do you a favour. I'll answer one question for you, but only one and then I'm out of here.'

'Where's Mina,' the Doctor asked.

'Up there,' the boy said, pointing to the nearest of the two blocks of flats. There was an open door on the fourth floor and the Doctor knew that that was what the boy was indicating.

'I'll want to speak to you again,' the Doctor said, turning away from the boy.

'I look forward to it,' the child returned.

* * *

There was an out of order sign on the lifts so the Doctor sprinted up the stairs instead. A man wearing a beard and a blanket sat on the stairs drinking from a chipped bottle. The Doctor leaped over him and continued onto the balcony. 

He dived through the open door, pausing in the front room just long enough to see that there was no one there, before moving on to the next room.

He found the women in the far room, sitting next to one another on a single bed. A blooded kitchen knife lay on the pillow. 

The Doctor's knees buckled, though from exhaustion or shock he did not know.

Mina looked up at him.

Blood stained her mouth.


	4. Episode Four

Episode Four

Mina wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand.

'Mina, what have you done?' the Doctor asked.

Mina looked puzzled. 

'I was hungry,' she said, 'so I drank.'

'You drank,' the Doctor repeated. 'Was itwas it already dead.'

'Yes, he was,' Janine replied. 'I put Timmy out of his misery. I couldn't stand the thought of him growing up in a place like this.'

'So you killed him?'

'He'll be in a better place now,' Janine said. She turned to Mina. 'Isn't that right?'

Mina linked hands with the other woman.

'That's what they say,' she assured her.

The Doctor slammed a fist against the wall. Chips of blue paint flew off revealing the white plaster beneath.

'What is wrong with you?' he demanded.

'Wrong with us?' Mina laughed. 'There's nothing wrong with us, not anymore.'

'It's like we can see clearly for the first time in our lives,' Janine agreed.

'When I was raising Quincey,' Mina explained, 'I used to tell him things that I knew were untrue in order to get him to behave or to teach him things. And as he got older he began to learn what things were true and which were lies. Well, we've finally outgrown our parents and have exposed the lies for what they are.'

'And now we can live our lives as they were meant to be,' Janine added. 'Free from other people's shackles.'

'Who are you anyway?' Mina asked.

'Don't you recognise me, Mina?' the Doctor asked. 'No, of course you don't. I'm the Doctor.'

'No, you're not,' Mina replied.

'You'd be surprised,' the Doctor responded. 'Listen, we don't have time to debate this. Can you just accept that I'm here to help? Now, have either of you seen a red-headed boy? About so high? Yes, I thought as much. Come on, I'm getting you help.'

The Doctor left the room, then turned when he realised the women were not following.

'Well, what are you waiting for?' he asked. 'We've got to fix this before it's too late.'

'We like it here,' Mina said.

'And we don't need fixing,' Janine added.

'Look at yourselves,' the Doctor said. 'You've killed a child. You can't believe that's right?'

'Why not?' Janine asked.

'Becausebecause all life is precious. Think of all that you've deprived him of, all the glorious things he might have done in the future. What right had you to deprive him of that?'

'Look around you,' Janine suggested. 'This was his future. What right had I to subject him to this?'

'I don't have time for this.' The Doctor grabbed both women by their wrists and dragged them from the bed.

'Ow! You're hurting me,' Mina protested.

'It's for your own good,' the Doctor replied.

* * *

Tori was standing in the alley. She did not have anywhere else to go. Someone had painted a grinning devil in green paint over the bloodstain. How easily that could have been Tori's own blood. Not that it would have made any difference. She could not even get dying right. And now..?

There was a commotion at the bottom of the stairs leading up the side of her block of flats. A black man was dragging two women with him. Tori peered closer. One of the women was her mother and the other looked like the woman she had seen in the alley yesterday.

Tori started forwards, then thought better of it. It was not her problem. Or was it? She thought of the man who had come to her rescue yesterday. It had not been his problem either, but that had not stopped him. Maybe it should have.

Tori took another step forward.

The man looked up and his eyes met Tori's.

'Stay here,' he said to the women before striding briskly in Tori's direction.

'Tori Gallagher?' he asked.

'How do you' Tori began.

'Aren't you supposed to be dead?'

* * *

'Scott.'

Scott grunted a greeting back in Aaron's direction. He was standing on top of the canal bridge watching two geese squabbling. If he turned his head he would be confronted by concrete, but as long as he focussed on the geese he could pretend he was in the countryside.

'You're not thinking of jumping are you?' Aaron joked. 'P'raps it runs in the family.'

'And you think that's funny, do you?'

'Oh come on, Scott,' Aaron said. 'I know she was your sister and all, but really. I only wasted my time with her because I couldn't be bothered to walk into town for some decent fun. She should have been thanking me for it.'

Scott grabbed Aaron by the lapels of his jacket and slammed him against the wall of the bridge, forcing him backward over the edge.

'Don't you ever mention my sister again,' he warned.

'Or what?' Aaron asked. 'You don't have the guts to do anything to me.'

'Really.'

'Oh yes, you do, don't you.' Aaron smiled. 'What would your precious sister think if she knew?'

Scott slammed him against the bridge again.

'I said'

'Hey, chill,' Aaron replied. 'I heard. I'm not going to say anything. Not as long as you help me out.'

Scott let Aaron go.

'What do you want?' he asked.

'That's better,' Aaron said, dusting off his jacket. 'You remember that guy yesterday.'

'What guy would that be? The one you murdered?'

'We murdered,' Aaron corrected. 'Your hands aren't clean either, remember.'

Scott looked away.

'What about him?'

'Seems there was a witness.'

'A witness?'

'Hey, don't worry about it. Everything's under control. You and I are going to make sure he keeps his mouth shut. Permanently.'

* * *

'Who are you?' Tori asked.

'Someone who should probably be dead too,' the man replied, 'but you can call me the Doctor.'

'Doctor. Right. Sorry, but I left my nurse's outfit at home.'

'I don't follow,' the Doctor admitted.

'Yeah, sure you don't,' Tori said. 'So, what'll it be, a quick one against the wall or were you planning to take me home with your lady friends over there?'

'Tori, I' The Doctor tentatively reached out a hand and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. Tori did not flinch. She simply looked defiantly back at him.

'Well?' she demanded.

'I don't want to hurt you.'

'Bet you say that to all the girls.'

The Doctor frowned.

'You think I'm going to'

'Aren't you?'

'No.'

'Oh.'

'Shouldn't you be, well, frightened of me?' the Doctor asked. 'If you really think I'm going to'

'Doesn't matter,' Tori said. 'Nothing matters any more.'

'That's not true,' the Doctor insisted. 'You're alive aren't you?'

'And therein lies the problem.'

'Ah.' The Doctor paused. 'Tori, I know that you've know reason to trust me, but please believe that I'm here to help.'

'Strangely enough, I do,' Tori admitted.

'Good.' The Doctor beamed. 'Now let's go and'

'Problem?' Tori asked. Then she followed the Doctor's gaze.

Her mother and the other women had disappeared.

* * *

A bible was open on the desk in front of Reverend Keating. He was looking up a reference to use at Tori's funeral. He had a gift for references, able to pluck something appropriate out of the ether at any given moment. Or he usually did. Today he was distracted.

Without looking up, he reached for his cup of tea. He misjudged it and caught the cup a glancing blow, knocking it over. Brown liquid seeped into his notes, causing the ink to run. With a sigh, Keating went into the kitchen to fetch a cloth. Then he started lifting items off of the desk with one hand while he attacked the growing puddle with the other.

He paused when he licked up the framed photo of him and his wife. Maureen had hated having her picture taken and she was frowning out at him.

'It was an accident,' he told her.

She continued to frown. The shadow of the church cast his younger self in shadow, but Maureen's cold eye's gleamed.

'It wasn't my fault,' Keating insisted.

Maureen's chin was slightly up-turned and she was looking down her nose at him.

'Don't be like that,' he protested. 'What should I have done? I couldn't know.'

Keating collapsed onto the settee, the picture slipping from his fingers.

'It wasn't my fault,' he insisted.

The glass shattered as the frame crashed to the floor.

* * *

'Shouldn't we go after them?' Tori asked.

They were walking past the swings, which hung motionless and neglected.

'Go where?' the Doctor asked. 'I don't know where they've gone, do you?'

'Well'

'Sorry, I didn't mean to snap,' the Doctor said. 'I seem to have quite a temper in this body.'

'This body?' Tori repeated.

'Yes,' the Doctor said. 'I thought I was dead. I could feel my life slipping away. And then I woke up looking like this.'

Tori's eyes widened.

'That was you in the alley, wasn't it?' she said.

'That was me,' the Doctor agreed.

'You saved me,' she said. 'Well, except for the bit where I killed myself afterwards.'

'Yes, what happened with that?' the Doctor asked. 'Excuse me for saying so, but you don't seem to have been very successful.'

'Hey, I did my best,' Tori retorted, but she was smiling when she did so.

The Doctor beamed back.

Tori's smile disappeared.

'It's been a long time since I was happy,' she said. 'I thought there was a chance, you know. A chance I could get out of here and start up somewhere else, to start over without the baggage. But life has a habit of kicking you when you're down.'

'It's not always like that,' the Doctor insisted.

'Maybe not where you're from,' Tori replied. 'I wanted out. I took the only route available. Well, aren't you going to say something? Tell me what I did was wrong? That there must have been another way?'

The Doctor shook his head.

'I don't have that right,' he told her. 'It's your life and you have to choose your own path, however much I or anyone might disagree with it.'

'You know, it's kind of refreshing not to have someone telling me what to do all the time,' Tori remarked.

'I know what that's like,' the Doctor said. 'Now tell me how you came back.'

'My mum brought me back. Don't ask me how, but she did. Once again she happily comes along and screws up my life. Do you think I wanted to be brought back here? Do you? This is what I was trying to get away from.'

'Then why haven't you killed yourself again?' the Doctor asked. 'Don't tell me you haven't had the opportunity. You've been given a second chance. If you want to end it, no one's going to stop you, not this time.'

II don't know what I want, not anymore,' Tori admitted.

'Now's your chance to find out,' the Doctor said.

'How come you always know the right thing to say?' Tori asked.

'One of the benefits of having lived for a very long time. You should try it,' the Doctor said. 'Don't blame your mother for wanting to bring you back. She loves you and wants to see you live a long and happy life.'

'Like hers?'

'No, no I don't think so,' the Doctor mused. 'Rather, she wants to give you all the things she never had. Perhaps it's a little selfish, but you're her chance to get it right.'

'Well, she doesn't need me for that,' Tori said. 'She's always got Timmy to mould in her image.'

'Timmy?'

'My baby brother,' Tori informed him. 'Doctor, is something wrong.'

The Doctor took a deep breath.

'There's an ice-cream van over there,' he said. 'Would you like me to buy you an ice-cream?'

* * *

Hand in hand, Janine and Mina wandered down the road, zigzagging aimlessly from side to side.

The driver of a Ford Cortina honked his horn at them.

Mina jumped at the noise and Janine giggled. Mina laughed with her.

'Hey, ladies, get off the road,' the driver shouted, honking his horn again.

'How rude,' Mina said.

'He's just trying to get what he wants,' Janine whispered in her ear. 'Isn't that how the world's supposed to work now?'

'But what about what we want?' Mina asked.

The driver stuck his head out of the window. 

'Girls, not that I don't appreciate the show, but could you take it some place else. I'm in kind of a hurry.'

'Bored now,' Janine remarked.

Mina began to walk towards the car, swaying from side to side as she did so.

The man ducked back inside the car and wound the window back up.

Mina slammed her fist through the window of the driver's door and dragged the driver out through it.

'You've been very rude,' she scolded him.

Blood trickled into the driver's eyes from a cut in his forehead, but he still stood his ground.

'I'm rude, lady?' he said. 'Look at what you did to my car.'

'Down boy.' Mina backhanded the driver across his face and he fell onto his backside in the middle of the road.

Mina crouched down and cupped the man's head in her hands. Her right hand still had glass fragments embedded in it and she ground these against his cheek.

'I can't abide rudeness,' she said.

'I think we should punish him,' Janine commented.

'L-listen, now I enjoy those sort of games as much as the next man, but'

'Poor little boy,' Janine said, a half-smile gracing her face.

'He doesn't see the truth the way we do,' Mina agreed.

'How can he cope, living through each day like that?' Janine asked.

'He must be in such pain,' Mina said. 'It would be a mercy to put him down.'

Mina tightened her grip on the driver's skull.

'P-please. I've got a wife and k-kids,' the driver begged. 'Please don't do this to me.'

'Don't worry about them,' Janine told him. 'We can always put them out of their misery for you later.'

Mina tensed, preparing to snap the driver's neck.

'Please, think about what you're doing,' the driver pleaded.

Mina met his gaze and read the terror in his eyes. He was petrified. Of her.

She let go of him and his scrambled backwards until he was able to get to his feet and run off.

Janine started after him, but Mina held up a hand to stop her.

'Something's wrong,' she said. 'I wanted to kill him, but there was a voice in my head telling me not to. She was telling me that it was wrong.'

'Wrong?' Janine asked. 'Why?'

'I don't know,' Mina said. 'Nothing makes sense anymore. Everything's supposed to be so clear, but there's this buzzing in the back of my mind.'

'It's that's kid's fault,' Janine said. 'He did this to us.'

'Do you think he can make the buzzing go away?' Mina asked.

'Only one way to find out.' Janine said.

They joined hands once again and continued walking down the road. As they did so, Mina started licking the blood from her wounded hand.

* * *

Tori bit into the flake of her 99 and it crumbled, scattering pieces of chocolate over her face. She and the Doctor were sitting on the swings.

'Here,' the Doctor said, offering her a handkerchief. He started on his raspberry ripple while Tori cleaned herself up.

'Good?' she asked.

'Not bad,' he said, 'not bad at all. I've tasted better, but you have to travel halfway across the galaxy for that.'

'Halfway across the galaxy,' Tori repeated. 'One of us is crazy and I'm pretty sure it isn't me.'

'Because your actions have been really sane lately,' the Doctor retorted.

Tori stuck an ice-cream covered tongue out at him.

'Do you really expect me to believe that you've never looked up at the night sky and wondered if there was anyone else out there?' the Doctor asked.

'Course I've wondered,' Tori said. 'Doesn't mean I expect to ever meet any of them.'

'Well, say hello to your first alien.'

'Yeah, sure,' Tori retorted sarcastically. 'Hang on, you're serious about this, aren't you?'

'I'm not human, Tori,' the Doctor admitted. 'Not entirely, anyway.'

'And I suppose you parked your spaceship just down the road.'

'Not too far from here, yes. I must say, you're taking this very calmly.'

'Well, it's not as if my life can get much weirder. Plus, it explains a few things.'

'Such as?'

'You going to eat that?' Tori asked, indicating the Doctor's neglected ice-cream cone.

'Be my guest.'

Tori took a large bit out of the wafer.

'Be honest, would anyone human have come charging in like that yesterday?'

'I don't follow.'

'Oh come one, nobody just helps anyone else anymore and they certainly don't put their life at risk. Everyone's got an angle. I couldn't figure yours out before, but now I guess it's some kind of mysterious alien motive mere humans aren't meant to understand.'

'I can't just have been trying to do the right thing?' the Doctor asked.

'Guys like that only exist in books and movies,' Tori replied.

'Guess someone forgot to tell me,' the Doctor remarked.

Tori cocked her head to one side and looked at the duffel-coated figure sitting on the swing next to her.

'You're really for real, aren't you,' she said. 'Promise me one thing. When this is all over, will you take me away with you?'

* * *

'Hello? Mrs Beckett, is that you?'

Reverend Keating clambered down from the pulpit. He had wanted to have one more run through of his sermon. It still was not quite right and he had hoped that hearing it in the atmosphere of the church might help him polish it up. But before he had even started to read from his notes, he had heard a commotion from down the nave. 

Kaeting had only turned the pulpit light on, so the rest of the church was still shrouded in semi-darkness. He could see someone by the West Door, but he could not tell who it was.

'Mrs Beckett? Doctor?'

The shadow had gone, but Keating was sure that the intruder was still there. Intruder? That was an interesting choice of words. Surely everyone was welcome in the house of God.

'Hello?' he called again. 'I know you're still here.'

There was a scuffle behind him and Keating whirled around. He turned too fast and banged his calf against the end of one of the pews. His face creased in pain and he bent down to examine the damage.

'Hello, vicar,' a voice whispered in his ear. 'I've come home.'

* * *

'You're thinking, aren't you,' Tori deduced. 'Either that or you're desperate for the loo. I've still got the key to my mum's flat if you want.'

'No, thank you,' the Doctor said, 'and yes, I am thinking. You're mum brought you back to life and I'm guessing that Mina did the same for me. It can't be coincidence that both of them are now displaying abnormal behaviour.'

'Abnormal? In what way?' Tori asked.

'That doesn't matter right now,' the Doctor said hurriedly. 'What does matter is trying to figure out how they brought us back. I don't suppose you mother, or anyone else in your family for that matter, has ever been interested in voodoo.'

'In what?'

'Well, that answers that question.' The Doctor got up from his swing and began to pace. 'Someone brought us back. They would have had to bend reality to do it and that's not supposed to be possible. But given that it obviously is, we can posit a third party of some power. A third party who used their power on behalf of both your mother and my friend. But why?'

'Altruism?' Tori suggested.

'I thought you were supposed to be cynical,' the Doctor commented. 'No, if I'm right, I've already met this individual and'

'And?' Tori prompted.

'He scares me,' the Doctor admitted. 'No, if he helped to bring us back it's because he wants something. And power like that doesn't come cheap. Don't you think it's odd that he just happened to be around when your mother was desperate to bring you back?'

'You mean he's been waiting until she was at her weakest and then he makes her an offer she can't refuse?'

'Yes, and once she's given him what he wants there's no going back.'

Tori thought for a moment.

'You know what this reminds me of?' she asked.

'Yes, I think I do,' the Doctor responded. 'I wonder if our serpent believes his own hype?'

* * *

Mina eased open the heavy doors of the church.

'He's here,' she said. 'It's almost as if I can smell him.'

'No, not smell,' Janine corrected. 'Taste. There's a new flavour in the air.'

'And what, pray tell, do I taste like,' the boy asked. 'Something suitably revolting I trust.'

The boy was standing in the pulpit. He was barely tall enough to see over the top. The vicar lay at the bottom of the steps, his left leg twisted at an unnatural angle.

'Don't mind the vicar,' the boy told the women. 'He still clings to the old regime. I did try to re-educate him, butwell, to be honest, he isn't really that interesting. You two on the other hand, you understand me, don't you?'

'I want to,' Mina said, 'but there's this voice in my mind that's confusing me.'

The boy's face twisted into a snarl.

'Still the old regime taints you.' He turned to face the altar. 'You can't leave well enough alone, can you? Do you really think you're still relevant here?' He turned back to Mina. 'Don't worry, my child,' he told her. 'Very soon now we'll silence that pesky little voice once and for all. We're just waiting for the guest of honour to arrive so that we can start the final act.'

The West Door swung open once again.

'Ah, Doctor,' the boy said, 'you took your time.'

'I was under the impression I was already the late Doctor,' the Doctor quipped.

'Very witty,' the boy said. 'Yes, it's true that you and your lovely young companion both owe your lives to me. Feel free to say thank you any time now.'

'Some favours aren't worth the price asked for them,' the Doctor said. 'What did you charge for our lives.'

'Nothing these young ladies couldn't afford, I promise you,' the boy said.

Tori was ignoring the boy in favour of her mother.

'Mum?' she said.

'Tori,' Janine responded. 'What are you doing here?'

'I came to find you,' Tori answered. 'Mum, I'm sorry. For everything.'

'Sorry?' Janine frowned. 'What do you want to be sorry for? You took what you wanted with no regard for anyone else. Isn't that how the world's supposed to work?'

'Mum?'

'If you still want to be dead, Tori, I'll understand,' Janine continued. 'I'll help if you like.'

'Stay away from her,' the Doctor commanded, interposing himself between Janine and her daughter. He turned to the boy. 'I'll ask you again, what have you done to them.'

'Oh, it's really very simple,' the boy explained. 'They've traded me their souls and there's nothing you can do about it.'


	5. Episode Five

Episode Five

'He's wrong, isn't he, Doctor?' Tori said. 'You can do something, can't you?'

'Of course I can,' the Doctor replied.

The boy laughed.

'You're very good,' he said. 'You've almost got me believing in you. But you and I know just how outmatched you are.'

'Really,' the Doctor responded. 'I think you've been paying far too much attention to your own publicity. Interesting choice of venue for a showdown.'

'Isn't it just. I thought it added a touch of poetry to the proceedings. Sing out ye fallen angels. The serpent has returned to the garden.'

'Is that really how you see yourself?'

'See for yourself.' The boy gestured to Janine and Mina. 'See how I've lifted the veil from their eyes to allow them to see the world as it truly is. And all I've asked for in return is their innocence. Surely my actions speak for me.'

The Doctor laughed.

'Let me see. You offered these people what they thought they wanted most and used that advantage to make them pay over the odds for it. Agent of Darkness? You've more in common with a door-to-door salesman.'

'You dare to mock me?' the boy snapped.

'Yes, actually,' the Doctor replied. 'And while we're on the subject, don't you think Prince of Darkness would have better dialogue? The devil getting all the best tunes and so forth.'

'Doctor,' Tori whispered, 'I don't think it's a good idea to make him mad.'

'Nonsense, Tori,' the Doctor said. 'If he was going to kill me he'd have done it already.'

'I wouldn't sully my hands with the likes of you,' the boy retorted, 'but that doesn't mean I can't get others to do it for me. Come on out Aaron.'

Aaron and Scott crept out from the shadows behind the organ. Aaron was holding his knife out in front of him. He waved it in the Doctor's direction.

'I owe you this,' he said.

'Doctor!' Tori screamed as Janine grabbed her, pinning her in place. 

The Doctor glanced from Tori to Aaron.

'I'm going to enjoy gutting you,' Aaron said.

'I can't see why,' the Doctor replied. 'It's not as if you had much success the first time.'

'What are you on about?' Aaron demanded.

'You mean you haven't told him?' the Doctor asked the boy. 'How remiss of you. Or don't you think he could cope with "the truth" you've been so busy espousing?'

'I don't know what you mean,' Aaron said.

'Well in that case I'll be more than happy to explain,' the Doctor replied. 'Your boss over there is under the mistaken impression he's the original fallen angel risen again to bring the world to a better state of darkness and chaos. How's it feel to be an instrument of the not quite divine?'

'You don't know what you're talking about,' Aaron snapped. 'I'm nobody's instrument.'

'Is that so.' The Doctor met Aaron's eyes with his own. 'You don't have to do this. You can put the knife down. That's right, put the knife down.'

Aaron began to lower the blade.

Then he swung it at the Doctor in a wild arc.

'Get out of my head!' he screamed.

The Doctor raised his right arm to defend himself and the knife tore through the thick material of his duffel coat.

'Doctor!' Tori cried out.

'It's just a scratch,' the Doctor called back, not taking his eyes from his opponent.

'You're dead, man,' Aaron shouted. 'Dead!'

'Been there,' the Doctor riposted. 'Done that.'

'Scott,' Aaron ordered, 'hold him for me while I stick him.'

Scott took a step forwards.

'Scott!' Tori shouted to her brother. 'What do you think you're doing?'

'Tori' Scott began.

'You're trying to kill a man,' Tori shouted. 'This isn't you. You're better than this.'

'Tori, I've gotta,' Scott told her. 'Aaron says'

'This isn't about Aaron,' Topri interrupted. 'This is about you. What do you want to do?'

'Well, Scotty,' Aaron taunted, 'what are you waiting for?'

'Scott, please,' Tori said. 'Don't do this.'

'Aaron,' Scott began, 'I don't think I mean, should we really'

'I don't believe this.' Aaron turned back to his companion. 'What do you think'

Aaron cried out in pain as the Doctor grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. The knife clattered to the stone floor.

'Why, you' Aaron began.

The Doctor punched him in the face, sending him to the ground with blood pouring from his nose.

'Stay down,' the Doctor warned.

'You enjoyed that, didn't you,' the boy said. 'The violence. The darkness. It's seductive, isn't it.'

'What happened?' Aaron wailed to the boy in the pulpit. 'You said you were gonna help me.'

'Yes, I did, didn't I,' the boy agreed, 'but I was expecting something in return. You don't have anything I'm interested in.'

'What do you mean?' the Doctor asked quietly.

'Oh, please. Work it out for yourself,' the boy snapped.

'But you promised,' Aaron cried.

'You're boring me, Aaron,' the boy said. 'Be quiet.'

He waved a hand and Aaron's body turned inside out.

Scott collapsed against a pew making gagging noises and the Doctor turned away. Held in place by her mother, Tori could not help, but look at the thing on the floor. She could taste bile in her mouth.

'That was unnecessary,' the Doctor said.

'Yes,' the boy agreed, 'but it was fun, wasn't it?'

'Fun?' the Doctor repeated. 'You think all this is fun?'

The boy began to descend the steps from the pulpit.

'Be honest with me, Doctor. Be honest with yourself. There's some part of you, however small, that's glad he's dead. Worse, there's some part of you that's glad he suffered.'

'That's not true,' the Doctor insisted.

'Isn't it?' the boy asked. 'You don't sound so sure.'

'Leave him alone,' Tori shouted. 'He's worth ten of you.'

'Ah, little Miss Gallagher.' 

The boy crossed the church to stand in front of her. He stretched out a hand and Tori tried to pull herself away. Her mother held her in place, however, while the child reached up and caressed her cheek.

'Poor, fragile little Tori,' he said. 'So vulnerable, so precious. No stronger than a weed that snaps easily beneath the cares of the world. Yesterday you ran terrified into the security of a bottle of pills, but today you think you can defy me? Quite a sudden change, wouldn't you say? I wonder what could have caused it.'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' Tori protested.

The boy laughed. 'No, you never were very bright were you.'

Tori spat in his face.

The boy slowly wiped off the saliva.

'My, my, you are a little tigress, aren't you.'

'Get away from her,' the Doctor warned.

'Or what?' the boy taunted. 'Do you really think you're relevant here?' He pointed at the tiled floor beneath the Doctor's feet. 'Stay!'

The floor softened and the Doctor sank up to his knees in grey slime.

'Now, where were we?' the boy asked, turning back to Tori. 'Oh yes, I'd just figured out what's changed you. You died, didn't you, and part of you still thinks you're dead. You don't feel anything anymore, no guilt, no pain. No fear. You're not afraid of anyone now, are you?'

'I'm not afraid of you,' Tori agreed.

'You can be so hurtful,' the boy replied. 'No matter. I think I can still scare you, if I really want to. Say hello to an old friend.'

The West Door opened again and a man stepped into the church.

Tori choked and the boy cackled.

'What's the matter, Tori?' the boy asked. 'Don't you want to say hello to your father?'

Dave Gallagher stepped into the light. He slapped a coiled leather belt against the palm of his large hand and the noise echoed through the church.

Tori instinctively closed her eyes at the sound. She felt dizzy and light headed. Her mother was no longer holding her in place, she was holding her up.

The sharp crack of the belt echoed again. And, even though Dave was still halfway across the church, Tori could feel the pain across her back, feel hot tears stinging behind her eyes.

Then there were another set of arms around her, protective and enfolding.

'Don't be scared, sis,' Scott said. 'I'll protect you.'

'Like you protected her in the alley?' the little boy mocked.

'That was different,' Scott snapped. 'Listen, Tori, it doesn't matter whether you believe I'll protect you or not. He can't hurt you. He isn't real. He's just something this kid's made up to scare you. It isn't real.'

Tori opened her eyes. Dave was still standing at the far end of the church, wielding the belt.

'And how do you know he isn't real, Scott?' the boy asked quietly. 'What's you're big secret?'

'He's dead, okay!' Scott shouted. 'Dad's dead!'

'Yes,' the boy agreed as Dave's image blew away like smoke, 'he's dead.'

'Howhow did you know?' Tori asked.

'Yes, tell us Scott,' the boy agreed. 'How did you know?'

Scott sat down in one of the pews, his head in his hands.

'I'm sorry, sis,' he said. 'I'm so very sorry.'

'For what?' Tori asked. 'Scott, what's going on. I thought Dad walked out on us.'

Scott laughed. 'Dad didn't walked out. He was never going to walk out. Why would he? He had it made. A pretty daughter to victimise and a loving wife only too willing to turn a blind eye.'

'Then what'

'I couldn't let it go on,' Scott continued. 'I thought I could ignore what he was doing, but I couldn't, you know. Andand I had to do something to make him stop.'

'Scott?'

'He was on the couch,' Scott said. The TV was on, loud as ever. He probably wanted to drown out the sound of you crying, if he even cared. And he was lying there, so contented, so superior and I justMum had been doing the ironing and the board was still set up in the corner. And I picked up the iron and I

'Aaron helped me dispose of the body afterHis dad's a builder so it was easy enough. He's under that new estate now.'

Scott looked pleadingly at his sister.

'You killed him,' she whispered.

'I' Scott looked away. 'Yes, I killed him.'

'You see, Doctor?' the child crowed. 'You see the people you're trying to save? They've already fallen. Everyone has that little bit of darkness in them, I merely bring it to the fore. Compassion, love, what is the point of such emotions? Idiots like the vicar other there preach about selflessness and humility, but such thoughts go against mankind's very nature. They are animals, Doctor, and the law of the jungle is survival of the fittest, not survival of the nicest. Their own science shows this to be true. Their own science denies the existence of God.'

'And of the Devil?' the Doctor asked. He was carrying all his weight on his arms now and had almost managed to work his left leg free of the slime.

'Look inside yourself, Doctor, and tell me I don't have a home there.'

'I deny you,' the Doctor shouted.

'You deny yourself,' the boy snapped back. 'Feel that anger building, feel the burning rage. We all have a place of darkness, Doctor, and yours is a little closer to the surface in this incarnation.'

'You're doing this to me,' the Doctor insisted. 'You changed em when you brought me back.'

'I've done nothing,' the boy replied, spreading his arms wide. 'You are your own man, however painful that may be to believe. But don't worry, as my disciple you'll be free of that annoying conscience that tells you that my way is wrong.'

'Your disciple?' The Doctor roared with outrage. 'Your disciple? You expect me to abase myself in front of you, is that it? To acknowledge you as somehow divine?'

'People abase themselves before less,' the boy remarked, gesturing to the altar and the golden cross on top of it.

'And sometimes that can have infinitely more value,' the Doctor replied. 'Ask Reverend Keating here, that is if you have the capacity to understand a concept like faith.'

'The vicar?' The boy laughed. 'You mean to hold him up as a shining example for me? He is as dark and twisted as the rest of you. isn't that right, holy man?'

Keating looked up, but he did not look at the boy. Instead his gaze settled on Tori. 

'I'm sorry,' he said. His voice shook and carried hardly any weight, but Tori could make out the words all to clearly.

'I don't understand,' she said, but she did and she knew that the vicar's broken state had little to do with the pain of his twisted leg.

'It's my fault,' he continued. 'You'd still be alive if it wasn't for me. If I hadn't told you'

'If you hadn't told her how your wife died,' the boy finished for him. 'How she locked herself in the bedroom. How she lay down on the bed. How she slowly swallowed a bottle of pills and then drifted off into one last lingering slumber. Do you think it's coincidence that that is exactly how Tori chose to die? Do you? Tori would still be alive if it wasn't for you, vicar. You killed her with your poisoned tongue more surely than I ever could.'

'No, it's not true,' Tori insisted, but part of her knew that was not the case. She had been enchanted by the story of Maureen Keating, both tragic and romantic at the same time. The kind of ending she had hoped for herself. She struggled with her mother, wanting to go to the vicar and comfort him, to prove that she was flesh and blood and not the ghost he so obviously thought she was, but Janine's grip was too strong. Tori could only watch his suffering and blame herself for it.

'I still refuse to accept you as divine,' the Doctor was saying. 'You're just an alien with a few cheap conjuring tricks.'

'Cheap tricks,' the boy retorted. 'I can fold back time. I can steal souls. I can pierce the veil between life and death.'

'All of which are patently impossible,' the Doctor said. 'Therefore it must be a trick.'

'Who says that it's impossible?' the boy asked. 'The Time Lords? I would have thought that your travels might have broadened your mind, Doctor, but you are still as stunted as ever. All things are possible, Time Lord. Nothing is beyond the enquiring mind, if you are prepared to pay the price. Your people know of this, they know of us, but they keep the information secret because they know that if this were to become common knowledge my armies would swell with willing converts like a black stain blotting out the light of the universe.'

'Very poetic, I'm sure,' the Doctor said.

'Your mockery is wasted, Doctor,' the boy said. 'You know that I'm speaking the truth. You've encountered us before.'

'In Whitby,' the Doctor suddenly deduced. 'That was one of your people?'

'Very astute, Doctor,' the boy said. 'He had died long before you arrived, but his energies had permeated his surroundings, warping your meagre physical laws.'

'You say he died?' The Doctor was almost free of the slime. 'That means you can be killed. Would killing you reverse what you've done?'

'And if it did?' the boy asked. 'Look around you. Are these people really worth saving? Scott Gallagher, a boy who struck down his own father. John Keating, a man who drove a teenage girl to suicide. Is your brave new world to be populated by murderers?'

'I don't see murderers when I look at them,' the Doctor replied. 'I see a boy who loved his sister so much he did the only thing he believed would spare his sister more pain. And if what he did was wrong he did it for the best of reasons. And I see a man who took pity on an isolated, lonely little girl. Who gave up his time to help her emotionally and who was honest and giving in the hope of seeing her develop into a glorious young woman. And maybe it came to a tragic end, but it was motivated solely by pure emotions. When I look at these two, I see two people motivated by love and I find that very hard to condemn.'

'And what of the women?' the boy asked. 'Are they so easy to defend? Janine Gallagher has her own child's blood on her hands.'

Finally, Tori found the strength to struggle free of her mother's embrace. She turned, tears in her eyes.

'Timmy?' she asked.

'It was for the best,' Janine replied simply.

'She wasn't herself,' the Doctor insisted. 'Tori, listen to me. She was not herself. This thing has changed her, stripped her of all the pure emotions that make her human.'

'Janine still lifted the knife,' the boy pointed out.

'That thing isn't Janine,' the Doctor retorted. 'A human being is more than just animal instincts. A human being has a soul. Janine Gallagher - the real Janine Gallagher - would not, could not have killed her child.'

'I know,' Tori sobbed, stumbling blindly backwards. 'I know.'

The Doctor caught her in his arms and held her close while she cried.

'This will all be over soon,' he promised her. 'We're going to make everything right again.

He looked up and met the boy's gaze with a defiant stare of his own.

'Give it up,' he suggested. 'You cannot convince me that these people are not worth saying. If there is darkness in everyone then there must also be light and that light will always be worth preserving, no matter what the cost.'

'Brave words, Doctor,' the boy said, 'but what of your companion?' 

'Mina?' the Doctor scoffed. 'Now I know you're getting desperate. You can't seriously expect me to believe that Mina is a child of darkness?'

'Watch,' the boy suggested. 'Mina, please remove your scarf.'

Gently, Mina removed the scarf from her neck. The flimsy material fell unnoticed to the ground. All eyes were on Mina's throat, and on the twin wounds that distorted the pale flesh of her neck.

'You know what they mean, don't you, Doctor?' the boy said. 'You know what she is?'

'I deny it,' the Doctor protested. 'It's a trick.'

'No trick,' the boy promised. 'Your own companion represents all that you despise.'

'No!'

'Look at her, Doctor! Look at those bite marks. You know where they came from. You know what she is.'

'Yes,' the Doctor replied, 'I do. She is and will remain my friend, no more nor less than that.'

'You are a fool,' the boy sneered.

'Perhaps,' the Doctor said. 'But I'm willing to take that risk. Now, you've played your hand and you've lost, so I'll give you one last chance. Release these people and leave. I won't follow you.'

'That's very magnanimous of you, Doctor,' the boy remarked, 'but what if I don't want to go?'

'I will free these women,' the Doctor said, 'by whatever means necessary.'

'By whatever means necessary?' the boy repeated. 'Are you sure you want to go down that route?'

The Doctor glowered.

'What I want doesn't come into it. I'll do what I must.'

'How noble, but are you really prepared to pay the price?' the boy asked. 'If you undo what I've done you undo everything. And that includes the two of you. Are you ready to die, Doctor?'

'I've died before,' the Doctor responded.

'Never like this,' the boy corrected. 'Your other selves, all your previous lives, they live on in your memory, have some continued existence in your mind. You on the other hand are an accident, a grand cosmic joke. When you die you will be undone completely. There will be no memories, no ghostly afterlife. You will be wiped clean away, the most complete of deaths. Are you ready for that?'

'Honestly,' the Doctor said, 'I don't know. But if it saves lives then I'm prepared to find out.'

'And what of the girl?' the boy persisted. 'What of Tori? Are you prepared to condemn her to death a second time? Can you kill her?'

The Doctor looked down at the girl in his arms.

'Tori?' he said. 'We don't have to do this. We'll find another way.'

'Is there another way?' Tori asked.

'There has to be,' the Doctor said. 'I don't want you to die.'

'It's not your decision, Doctor,' Tori said. 'Just answer one question: if I die, will my mum be okay again.'

'Yes,' the Doctor replied. 'Yes, she will.'

'Then that settles it,' Tori responded. '"Dying is an art, like everything else." It's about time I got it right.'

'You are a truly remarkable young woman,' the Doctor told her. He turned to the boy. 'You've got your answer. Now, are you going to release them willingly or must we use force.'

Mina lifted the cross from the altar and, holding it in two hands, struck the Doctor across the face with it.

'Oh, I think force, don't you?' the boy said. 'Mina, Janine, my children, look at them. Aren't these the people clouding your minds? Aren't they the ones begging you o go contrary to the natural order? If they will not embrace the truth, would it not be better for everyone if they were not to share in our new world?'

Janine advanced on her daughter.

'Mum, you don't have to do this,' Tori pleaded.

'I'm sick of listening to you whine,' Janine said. 'I'm sick of you playing the victim. If the world is so terrible for you then it would be a mercy to help you out of it.'

Janine clamped her hands around Tori's throat and began to squeeze.

'Tori!' The Doctor scrambled back to his feet and started to Tori's aid. Mina slammed the cross down on to his back, forcing him to the floor once again.

'Mum!' 

Tori managed a strangled cry as she clawed at her mother's fingers.

'Tori!' 

Scott was at her side, hammering on Janine's arms with a hymn book. Janine's grip relaxed only slightly, but it was enough for Tori to pry her away from her throat. Tori fell on to her backside, gasping for air.

The Doctor raised his arm to fend off another blow from his companion.

'Mina,' he said, 'stop this. Please!'

'Mina looked pleadingly at him. 'DoctorI just want the noise to stop.'

Then she struck him again. The sharp edge of the cross tore open the flesh of his cheek.

'She's still in there, isn't she?' the Doctor demanded of the boy. 'Mina, the real Mina, is still there.'

'Yes,' the boy said, 'they are still tainted. 'But once they've killed you then their last ties to the old order will be severed. You're doing them a favour.'

Janine's right arm shot out and her finger's clamped around Scott's throat. His face coloured beetroot as his mother lifted him off of the ground so that his feet were dangling in empty space. Janine hurled him across the church and his head struck the edge of a pew as he fell. He did not get back up.

Her eyes fixed on her mother, Tori reached out blindly. They encountered something wet and sticky. She risked a look and then scuttled away in horror from Aaron's remains. Her left hip stuck something cold and sharp.

Tori's fingers closed around Aaron's knife.

'Mum,' she began, 'I know you don't understand me, but I want to say it anyway. I love you, Mum, and I'm sorry for some of the stupid things I've done and for a lot of the stuff I said and I hope that when you come back from wherever it is you're trapped that you'll be able to find a way to forgive me. And perhaps you'll even be able to understand what I'm about to do and maybe, just maybe, it'll make you proud.'

Tori leaped to her feet and lunged at the boy, Aaron's knife leading the way.

The blade embedded in the boy's side.

The boy withdrew the blade and held it up to the light, studying the blood. Then he dropped the weapon to the ground.

'That hurt,' he complained. 'But not as much as this will.'

The boy shoved his hand into Tori's skull and she screamed.

The Doctor looked deep into Mina's eyes.

'Mina,' he begged, 'I know you're still in there. Please, help me!'

Mina swung the cross underarm with all the force she could muster. It struck the Doctor beneath his chin, lifting him up and throwing him backwards. He collapsed in a crumpled heap at the boy's feet.

'Well, that was successful, wasn't it?' the boy mocked.

'Yes,' the Doctor replied, 'it was.'

He snatched up the knife and rammed it through the boy's heart.

'How violent,' the boy commented. 'I didn't think you had it in you. I'm impressed.'

His eyes rolled back in their sockets and he collapsed.

The Doctor stared at the corpse and at the blood filling the cracks between the tiles. The change wracked his body. His skin paled and his bone structure became finer as his hair grew longer. Pain erupted in his chest as his hearts opened up again, but he could already feel his body knitting the wound closed.

'Doctor?' 

Mina put her hand on his arm, but he flinched away. He could not look at her.

'Doctor,' Mina repeated softly. 'She's asking for you.'

Tori was lying on her back on the cold floor. Her condition was deteriorating before their eyes. 

Keating, having dragged himself to her side, was holding her hand while he administered the last rites.

Janine had collapsed into a pew, sobbing into her blood-stained dress. Scott had his arm around her.

The Doctor crouched down besides Tori, taking her free hand in both of his.

'Doctor,' she asked, 'is that you? I can't see too good anymore.'

'It's me,' the Doctor told her.

'You sound different.'

'I am,' the Doctor explained. 'Everything's going back to what it was before.'

'Including me.' Tori tried to laugh, but it turned into a coughing fit.

The Doctor patiently waited for her to recover her breath.

'Guess I won't get to see the stars with you after all,' Tori rasped.

'I wish' the Doctor began.

Tori shook her head.

'Don't,' she said. 'It was my choice. My chance to do something right for a change. Just tell me one thing.'

Tori's voice was barely a whisper now and the Doctor had to almost press his ear against her lips to here her.

Tori asked her question with her final breath.

'Did we win?'

_To be continued_


End file.
